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Class.. P 

Book . i,.- % 5 

Copyright ~N ° . T^ro- 

2 - 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT', i 











TWO-GUN SUE 


BY 

DOUGLAS GRANT 

Author of “The Single Track,” etc. 



NEW YORK 

ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY 


1922 




Copyright, 1922, by 
Robert M. McBride & Co. 



Printed in the 
United States of America 


Published, 1922 


m 24 1922 


©CU674253 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTEK PACE 


I 

Nipped Wires ..... 


1 

II 

The Hold-up . . ,. 


21 

III 

An Unexpected Ally . 


35 

IV 

The Last Stand .... 


52 

V 

That Chanler Hombre . 


68 

VI 

Acheson Makes an Offer . 


87 

VII 

Moonlight and Mischief . 


107 

vm 

A Little White Lie 


128 

IX 

Consequences . ... .. 


141 

X 

From the Clouds . . ... 


154 

XI 

In Her Hands .... 


166 

XII 

Paroled in Custody 


178 

XIII 

Garry Asks Himself a Question . 

193 

XIV 

“While East is East — !” . 


206 

XV 

A Dream Still-born 


219 

XVI 

Dacon Acheson Takes the Deal . 

235 

XVII 

The Barred Gate ... . 


246 

XVIII 

East is West ..... 


258 

XIX 

For the Circle Six 


269 

XX 

Clearing Smoke . . . 


285 

XXI 

Aladdin’s Lamp : . 


299 

XXII 

Susanna Gets Her Man 


307 


TWO-GUN SUE 


CHAPTER I 

NIPPED WIRES 

“rilAKIN’ ’em by and large, there ain’t a fee- 
** male in the county can ride like our gals of 
the Circle Six!” Tad Mason stretched out his 
short, plump legs in the shade of the bunk-house 
wall and watched with admiring approval the slim, 
graceful figure loping out through the ranch gate. 
* i The little one just sits that there bronc like she 
was pajt of it.” 

“She shore does,” Link Dole agreed, but with- 
out enthusiasm, as he shifted his quid from one 
cadaverous cheek to the other. “She’ll be ridin’ 
out to meet that Easterner again, the one that’s 
stayin’ down to the Central Hotel. Beats all how 
they ’ll take to somethin ’ different, don ’t it 1 Ever 
sence that dance over to the Bar D, where this 
Chanler hombre showed her them new steps, it 
looks like us punchers wasn’t no more account 
than a bunch of yearlin’ shorthorns to Miss 
Sylvie!” 


2 


TWO-GUN SUE 


“Oh, well, it ain’t often anythin’ as citified as 
him drifts out to a cow-town, Link, and fur as we 
know there ain’t nothin’ agin him,” Tad remarked 
easily. “He looks you square in the eye when 
he talks and though he don’t go moseyin’ around 
with no chip on his shoulder there ’s a set to him 
as if he could take care of hisself when it comes 
to a little mix-up. ’ ’ 

“What’s he here fur, anyways?” Link spat 
copiously, and a nondescript dog who had been 
hovering about ingratiatingly betook himself out 
of range in haste. ‘ ‘ He ain ’t after cows or white- 
face and he don’t ’pear to be a lunger, while as 
fur ranchin’, the Triangle Four has been on the 
market sence Jed Price died and he ain’t even 
looked it over. It ain’t noways likely that he’s 
stayin’ at the Central Hotel fur the sake of the 
grub and the p’ints of interest around Dexter. 
Folks usually declar’ theirselves one way or 
t ’other in these parts. ’ ’ 

“S’pose you ast him, if you’re so plumb 
cur ’us!” Tad rose as a grizzled, weatherbeaten 
individual sauntered around the corner of the 
bunkhouse. i ‘ Clint in yet from ridin ’ line, Wes ¥ ” 

Wes Hayward, foreman of the Circle Six, shook 
his head, but turned once more to scan the grassy, 
rolling plain before he replied. 

“No. Don’t expect him back before sundown, 


3 


NIPPED WIRES 

but it's Lee I’m studying ’bout. I told the kid 
there was enough of the boys to ride line without 
him takin’ things into his own hands, especially 
now that there’s bad blood between him and Jake 
Brower, but he allowed he was boss of the ranch 
and he warn’t afeerd of Jake and his pack of 
thievin’, rustlin’ greasers. He’s just naterally 
brash and lookin’ for trouble.” 

* 1 Ole Man Poindexter wouldn’t have dodged 
any that was goin’, and his boy ain’t likely to,” 
Tad observed. “He always was a game little 
cuss, but I thought that college would have put 
kid-glove, la-de-dah idees in his head. It ain’t, 
though, not a mite; he wants to take holt, that’s 
all.” 

“He ain’t no more boss of the Circle Six than 
his sisters are, and Miss Susanna leaves every- 
thing to you, Wes. You’ve been runnin’ the 
ranch ever since the three of them was knee-high 
to a coyote; why don’t you speak to Miss Sue if 
the kid’s hankerin’ after a show-down with Jake 
and his bunch 1 ’ ’ demanded Link. 

“Because I aim to keep him out of trouble with- 
out tattlin’ to his sisters.” Wes scratched his 
head reflectively. “You two boys are the only 
ones of the outfit who was here in the Old Man’s 
day, and you know, same’s I do, how his fool 
notions ’bout breedin’ fancy cows ate up all he 


4 


TWO-GUN SUE 


could borrow on the land. Last year’s drought 
kind of got us behindhand with the interest, that 
and keepin’ the kid in college, and that lawyer 
feller down to Mammon City has been pesterin’ 
Miss Sue again. She’s got enough on her hands, 
and I ain’t goin’ to worry her none about Lee; 
if I can’t keep him from a run-in with Jake and 
his outfit there’s nothin’ she could say to him.” 

“ There ain’t been no more rustlin’ than in 
other years, and nothin’ to connect up Jake and 
his greasers with it, ’ceptin’ that talk of Rosa del 
Rio’s after Felix Mesega give her the go-by.” 
Tad’s good-natured face had lengthened into 
lugubrious lines. “It’s a plumb, almighty shame 
’bout Miss Sue havin’ everythin’ on her shoulders, 
scratchin’ dirt to put the kid through college and 
learnin’ Miss Sylvie all she got herself from those 
two years’ schoolin’ in Kansas City where her 
Pa sent her that time. Jumpin’ snakes! I’d 
turn rustler myself if it would help her keep the 
Circle Six.” 

“There ain’t no question of losin’ the ranch.” 
Link’s habitual drawl quickened with emphasis 
and he turned to the foreman suddenly. “Wes, 
you been hearin’ anythin’ ’bout that hombre from 
the East who’s stayin’ down to the Central 
Hotel?” 

“Cain’t say as I have,” Wes responded cam 


NIPPED WIPES 


5 


tiously, and his shrewd, kindly eyes narrowed. 
“I’ve seen him lookup on in Faro Jim's oncet 
or twice but he wasn’t playin’. What you been 
hearin’ ’bout him?” 

“ Nothin’, nor nobody else He’s kinder took 
up with some of the Bar D outfit, but the sucker’s 
such a bum rider that his pants acshully fit him. ’ ’ 
Link spat once more in supreme contempt. 
* i Chanler, his name is, and he allows to come from 
New York, but that’s every livin’ thing he’s let 
on ’bout his self. He ambles off every day on one 
of Sim Moser’s broncs, but nobody savvies where, 
lessen it ’s to look at the seen ’ry. What ’s he doin ’ 
’round Dexter, anyways ? ” 

“ Link’s afeered he’s nosin’ ’roun our corral,” 
chuckled Tad. “Miss Sylvie ain’t had eyes for 
none of us sence she met up with him at the Bar 
D dance, and it’s only nateral, for she’s known 
us all her life, and there ain’t a man-jack of us 
that she ain ’t been able to wrop ’round her finger 
from the time she could sit her first pinto. She’s 
plumb tickled ’cause he treats her as if she was 
a growed-up young lady and I suspicion she’d 
like to rope him and then turn him loose 
agin, just to show she can; gals acts thataway 
mostly.” 

“A heap you savvy ’bout ’em!” Link snorted. 
“They’s plenty of likely young ones in this county 


6 TWO-GUN SUE 

without Miss Sylvie ropin’ no strange maverick. 
What ’s that ? ’ ’ 

He had jumped to his feet and now the foreman 
wheeled and followed the direction of his gaze. 

“It’s Clint !” the latter exclaimed. 4 4 Clint, 
and he’s a-comin’ hell-f or- Sunday. Somethin’s 
broke loose.” 

The puff of white dust upon the road had spread 
into a swirling cloud and from it materialized the 
form of a rider bent low over the neck of his 
running horse, whose sudden, wild spurts indi- 
cated the dig of spurs. Tad made one leap in the 
direction of the corral and then paused, and all 
three men waited until the horse swerved in at 
the gate and drew up on sliding haunches before 
them. 

“ Wire’s down over beyond the crick,” the rider 
announced breathlessly. ‘ i They was o. k. at sun- 
down . ’ ’ 

“Ground ain’t trompled none?” Wes inter- 
rupted tersely. 

1 i Only on t ’other side and the trail leads north. ’ ’ 
Clint Beckett’s good-looking, boyish face was set 
in grim lines. “Moreover, them wires ain’t tore 
loose ; they been nipped clean. ” 

“Clint, you didn’t see nothin’ of Lee ?” Tad 

began anxiously, but again the foreman inter- 
rupted. 


NIPPED WIRES 


7 


1 1 He’s ridin' line on the east section. Link, 
you shoot in to Dexter for Matt Cooley and a 
couple of his dep ’ties ! Get a fresh bronc, Clint, 
and you and Tad come with me. We ’ll show them 
rustlers. ’ ’ 

The men raced for the corral with one accord, 
and presently the dust rose again thicker than 
before upon the road, to settle slowly when quiet 
brooded once more over the Circle Six. 

Meanwhile, on the highway which skirted the 
little cattle town of Dexter, — local usage had 
years since abbreviated its name from that of its 
founder, the late owner of the Circle Six, — out 
beyond the Eating House and the railroad, a girl 
had halted her broncho in the shade of a clump 
of mesquite bushes. She was winsomely pretty, 
with a mutinous, provocative curve of her red lips 
and an imperious tilt of the small, pointed chin 
which argued an already awakened knowledge of 
her power, despite the boyishly immature figure 
that betrayed her extreme youth. 

The road in each direction stretched deserted 
and still under the glare of the sun, and Sylvia ’s 
blue eyes snapped with vexation as she pulled 
off her broad-brimmed hat and pushed back the 
damp golden curls that clustered about her fore- 
head. 

Then, all at once, her eyes softened, and with 


8 


TWO-GUN SUE 


a little smile she slipped lightly from her saddle 
and engaged herself busily in an elaborate pre- 
tense of cinching her girth. A lone figure on 
horseback had rounded the bend ahead at an easy 
lope, whistling a catchy melody that more prop- 
erly belonged to the environment of Broadway 
than the plains. 

At sight of her the whistling stopped and he 
urged his broncho forward, flinging himself care- 
lessly from the saddle before he had fairly reined 
in beside her. The newcomer was a clean-cut, 
athletic looking young man, attired in the fault- 
lessly tailored riding clothes which had aroused 
Link Dole’s contempt; but, although his glossy 
brown hair had been sleekly brushed until it 
shone, there was nothing weak or foppish in the 
expression of his steady gray eyes and firm though 
humorously mobile mouth. 

“In trouble, Miss Poindexter? Will you allow 

me ?” His voice was pleasantly modulated 

and the crisp enunciation was in marked contrast 
to the nasal masculine drawl to which the girl 
was accustomed. 

She blushed and drew in a little quick breath. 

“ — If — if you don’t mind, Mr. Chanler. I think 
the girth has got loosened some way.” 

He adjusted it gravely, and, although there was 
a gleam of amusement in his eyes at her trans- 


NIPPED WIRES 9 

parency, no hint of it betrayed itself in his tone 
as he remarked: 

“ There. It only needed taking up a bit, you 
see. You don’t often come by this road, do you?” 

Sylvia shook her head. 

“ You don’t either. I — I mean, I’ve never seen 
you out this way before,” she amended hurriedly. 
“I thought I’d ride out and see old Mrs. Bently 
this afternoon, but it got so hot, and my saddle 
kept slipping . ’ ’ 

“It was fortunate for me that I happened along. 
May I ride back a little way with you if you have 
decided to return to the Circle Six?” Garrison 
Chanler had familiarized himself with the roads 
about Dexter, and he knew that the one upon 
which this innocently beguiling infant had waylaid 
him was a roundabout way indeed to the Bently 
ranch, but there was only grave deference in the 
manner with which he cupped her tiny foot in his 
hand and assisted her to mount once more. 

“It — it seems to me there’s a little breeze com- 
ing up, don’t you think so?” Sylvia turned the 
full battery of her limpid, round eyes upon him 
as he stood for a moment beside her. “We could 
take the trail over by Grosscup’s Pool if you’re 
not in a hurry to get back to Dexter ? ’ ’ 

“Indeed I’m not. Grosscup’s Pool sounds 
refreshing. It lies to the north, doesn ’t it ? ” He 


10 


TWO-GUN SUE 


turned his broncho ’ s head, vaulted into the saddle, 
and they cantered off side by side at an easy gait. 

“It's where the creek which crosses our ranch 
winds around to the northeast and widens out in 
a basin of rocks in a gulley, ,, Sylvia explained. 
“Grosscup was a prospector who came looking 
for gold ever so long ago and was supposed to 
have discovered it there and gone crazy from joy 
over it, but nobody else ever found any. I like 
it because it is cool and shady and mossy, and 
it’s so out of the way that hardly anybody goes 
there.’ ’ 

She did not add that, as the one spot in the 
vicinity which most nearly approached her con- 
ception of a romantic setting, she had led more 
than one awkward and bashful swain thither to 
torment him with her newly-found coquetry, but 
she meant to test its effect now upon this mad- 
deningly cool, self-contained denizen of a world 
which she knew only vicariously, through the 
medium of magazines and best-sellers. Without 
knowing why, she resented the fact that his 
amused, tolerant attitude should disconcert her, 
and more than anything else in her humored, 
adulated young life, she wanted to bring him to 
her feet. Tad Mason’s estimate had not been far 
from the truth. 

“I haven’t seen your brother since I met him 


NIPPED WIRES 


11 


at the Bar D,” Garry Chanler remarked, when 
they had turned from the highway into the lesser 
trail. 

“Oh, Lee is riding line,” responded Sylvia ab- 
sently. “He is getting back into harness again 
so as to take over the management of the ranch, 
now that he has finished college.” 

“But your foreman !” 

“Wes Hayward is all right, of course, and I 
don’t suppose we should know what to do without 
him, but it is not like having an owner at the head 
of things. You don’t know much about ranching, 
do you, Mr. Chanler!” 

He shook his head smilingly. 

“I’ve had my first glimpse of it during these 
last few weeks, but it seems to be a great life; 
a real man’s game. I should imagine, though, 
that a girl would find it monotonous and a trifle 
lonely. ’ ’ 

“It’s — unspeakable.” Sylvia gave a vicious 
little jerk upon her broncho’s mouth. “Never 
going anywhere or — or meeting the right sort of 
people. I wonder that Lee can settle down con- 
tentedly to it after having been away to college, 
but he is like Susanna, just simply crazy about 
carrying out father’s plan to make the Circle Six 
the greatest ranch in this section of the State. Sue 
has managed it ever since father’s death, you 


12 


TWO-GUN SUE 


know, and Mr. Hayward says there isn’t a better 
man on the place. I — I hate it.” 

“I have heard a great deal about your sister, 
although I haven’t had the honor of meeting her 
yet . 9 ’ The easy tolerance was gone from Garry ’s 
voice and he spoke with unconsciously quickened 
interest. “The other ranch owners hereabout 
have a tremendous respect for her; they tell me 
that she can rope, and brand, and cut cattle out 
of a milling bunch as expertly as any puncher 
could, and that she is quite a remarkable shot, 
too.” 

“Yes!” Sylvia’s keen ear had caught and as 
instantly resented the change in his tone, and her 
own was edged slightly with sarcasm. “You can 
imagine how proud you would feel to hear your 
sister called ‘Two-gun Sue.’ Oh, I know it was 
only meant for a compliment and Sue just laughed 
when she heard about it first, but I think it’s a — 
a disgrace. As though she were some sort of a 
dreadful hold-up person. And she needn’t have 
bothered with the ranch at all, for Wes Hayward 
was perfectly able to run everything, but she 
simply would . Of course, no — no girl back East 
where you come from would think of doing such 
things. ’ ’ 

“I doubt if many of them are strong and clever 


NIPPED WIRES 


13 


enough to be able to learn; certainly none that 
I know would be capable of running a great cattle 
ranch.” Garry smiled to himself at the mental 
picture which rose before him of some of the 
feminine members of his own set, with whom he 
played about in town and at the seashore and at 
country clubs, if they were suddenly to be trans- 
planted to the Circle Six ; stately, languid blondes 
like Daisy Acheson and dark, vivid, sensation- 
seeking neurasthenics such as Alix Westervelt. 
What could she be like, the hard-riding, straight- 
shooting sister of this animated, pink-and-white 
doll at his side? For the first time since he had 
heard of her Garry felt an active curiosity con- 
cerning Susanna Poindexter, and a whimsical 
determination was born to meet this elusive 
Amazon. 

“Your sister wasn’t at the Bar D dance, was 
she ? ” he asked, pursuing his own train of thought. 
“Doesn’t she care for such things?” 

“I suppose so; I don’t know.” There was a 
trace of petulance in Sylvia’s tone. “Sue hardly 
ever goes. She is out and about the ranch from 
dawn, you know, and evenings she fusses over the 
accounts and talks business with Wes Hayward. 
She hasn’t been any fun at all since Father died, 
and she won’t let me do half the things I want 


14 


TWO-GUN SUE 


to, or go visiting anywhere. You see, Sue brought 
me up and she can’t seem to realize that I’m not 
a child any longer. ’ ’ 

“Elder sisters cannot, sometimes, I’m told!” 
Garry laughed. Could it be that Susanna was a 
dour, weatherbeaten old maid? Somehow that 
was not the impression he had formed of her from 
the honest if rough admiration he had heard ex- 
pressed by the boss of the Bar D outfit and more 
than one of Dexter’s leading citizens. The 
sheriff, “Big Matt” Cooley, for instance, had 
boasted with respectful pride that it was he who 
had taught Miss Susanna to shoot from the hip 
as soon as her small finger had strength enough 
to pull the trigger, and Big Matt himself was 
obviously not far over the forty mark. Miss 
Susanna could therefore not be so much older as 
her little sister had unconsciously given him to 
infer. 

But had it been done quite unconsciously? Was 
there latent if crudely practised guile beneath 
this ingenuous unsophistication? Garry turned 
slightly and glanced at the young girl by his side 
to find her staring straight before her with a little 
angry light in her eyes and her rosebud mouth 
drawn down resentfully at the corners. As though 
conscious of his gaze she turned to him with a 
smile half mirthful and half defiant. 


NIPPED WIRES 15 

“Sue will have to realize that I am grown up 
soon, for when I am of age I mean to sell out 
my third of the ranch and go everywhere and 
have everything that other girls have,” she 
declared. Then her eyes fell and a dainty flush 
swept over her cheeks. “But you — you’re not 
interested in the troubles of poor little me.” 

“Indeed I am,” he played up mechanically. 
“If you are not in sympathy with the plans of 
your sister and brother, and unsuited to the rough 
sort of existence out here it would he a shame 
for you to bury yourself on the plains. It is a 
hazardous life, too, for a woman, isn’t it? Of 
course, the dangers of pioneer days are long past, 
but there are tales of cattle thieves ?” 

“Rustlers?” Sylvia shrugged. “The half- 
breeds run off a few of our cows now and then, 
but I shouldn’t be allowed out of a corral if there 
were any real danger ! — There ’s the pool, straight 
ahead.” 

The road dipped sharply and curved to avoid 
a gulley walled with rocks, between which rose 
clumps of trees to shade the rippling pool below. 
The springs which fed it on either side caused 
the creek to widen out here into a natural basin 
and from the outlet the tinkle of falling water 
came refreshingly to their ears. 

The bronchos picked their way eagerly though 


16 


TWO-GUN SUE 


sure-footedly down the steep path, and, after per- 
mitting them to drink sparingly, Garry tethered 
them and joined Sylvia, who had seated herself 
on a mossy rock beside a merrily bubbling spring. 

“It’s pretty here, isn’t it?” she asked. 

“An enchanted spot!” Garry agreed enthusi- 
astically. “But I thought you said no one ever 
came here? Somebody has invaded your fairy- 
land, Miss Poindexter ; there are ashes over there 
on an improvised stone fireplace and the remains 
of food. Surely we are too far from the railroad 
for tramps ?” 

“Campers, maybe, or punchers hiking north,” 
Sylvia replied indifferently. ‘ ‘ Some of them are 
born rovers, you know, and won’t stay long on 
any one ranch after the spring round-up.” 

“By the way, your brother invited me out to 
the Circle Six.” With the riding-crop, which he 
carried in lieu of a quirt, Garry had been prod- 
ding the moss in a crevice between the stones at 
his feet, but now he turned and looked into her 
eyes. “Won’t you, too, ask me to come before 
I leave for the East?” 

“Why, of course,” she stammered, impatient 
of the blush which she could feel rising once more 
into her cheeks beneath his glance. “I — I should 
have asked you before, but out here we sort of 
expect people to take our hospitality for granted. 


NIPPED WIRES 17 

You ntust have thought it dreadfully ill-mannered 
of me.” 

“On the contrary, I’ve been curious about you 
ever since I met you, Miss Poindexter,” he 
retorted truthfully enough. “At the risk of having 
you think me rude in my turn, I have wondered — 
you say you have never been anywhere, and yet 
your manner — you are not like the other young 
people I have met hereabouts and in some of the 
boom towns.” 

Sylvia dimpled and then her lip curled slightly. 

“Like the other ranch girls, you mean?” she 
supplemented. “I don’t talk like a puncher or 
eat with my knife or wear cheap finery. Father 
was a professor down in a little fresh water col- 
lege in the South before his lungs gave out and 
he came here ahead of the railroad and started 
the Circle Six with a few head of miserable, half- 
starved shorthorns. Mother followed him out 
West, then other ranchers settled around, and 
that brought a store and hotel, and — and some 
saloons and gambling places that strung them- 
selves out on a single street and called it ‘Dexter.’ 
It will never be anything but a cow-town, of 
course, but Father was always proud of it. After 
Sue was born he sent for books and taught her 
until it was time for her to go to Kansas City to 
school, and he prepared Lee for his entrance ex- 


18 


TWO-GUN SUE 


animations for college before he died. We — we 
aren’t just heathen, you see, Mr. Chanler.” 

“You know that I never thought you were!” 
he responded laughingly, but his thoughts re- 
verted once more to the unknown other girl. “So 
your sister went to school in Kansas City!” 

Sylvia bit her lip. Bother Sue! Why should 
he keep talking about her when he hadn’t even 
seen her? And he had spoken of going away . 

“You don’t expect to stay very much longer 
in Dexter?” She ignored his question. 

“I must start for the East in a few days, a 
week at most,” he replied. “I have idled about 
here longer than I intended, as it is, but I found 
this part of the country unexpectedly interest- 
ing.” 

Sylvia promptly accepted the rather vague ex- 
planation as a subtly meant compliment to herself, 
but dismay at the concrete fact of his imminent 
departure swallowed up all other emotion. 

“ ‘A week!’ ” she repeated forlornly, in naive 
self-betrayal. 

“Yes. We’ll have one more opportunity to try 
those new steps I showed you, though, if you will 
be kind enough to save me a dance or two on 
Saturday night.” He spoke lightly, but in a 
slightly more formal tone, after a quick side- 


NIPPED WIRES 19 

glance at her. Good Lord, the child wasn’t going 
to weep over his departure, was she? A few 
dances, a ride or so together, with never a touch 
of the hand or a word which might remotely be 
construed as anything but the most casual friendly 
conversation, and yet those astonishingly blue 
eyes of hers had seemed suddenly to have misted 
with tears. Garry was not vain enough to be 
under any delusion that the girl had fallen in love 
with him, but he was touched by her attitude, even 
while it discomfited him. Poor little thing ! She 
was only interested in him because he was the first 
Easterner she had encountered, and she hadn’t 
learned to dissemble with her first breath, like the 
girls of his own set at home. “You are going to 
that affair at the Triangle Four, aren’t you?” 

His momentary pause for reflection had given 
Sylvia time to recover herself and she replied with 
elaborate indifference : 

“I suppose Lee will take me, but it is funny to 
hear you call it an ‘affair,’ Mr. Chanler. I am 
not ridiculing the hospitality of my friends out 
here, but a wheezy player-piano and an uneven 
floor and a supper that comes mostly from tin 
cans wouldn’t be called just that back East, would 
it?” Despite herself, a note of bitterness had 
crept into her tones, and, as though conscious of it 


20 


TWO-GUN SUE 


herself, she rose suddenly. “It’s getting late, 
don’t you think? If I am not home by sundown, 
Sue will have the whole outfit riding the range 
for me.” 


CHAPTER II 


THE HOLD-UP 

A T an hour before sunset another girl was 
approaching the Circle Six from quite a 
different direction. Long-limbed and deep- 
chested, with the superb lines of budding maturity, 
the carriage of her small head on its slender neck 
and the rounded slimness of wrists and ankles 
told of a line of breeding as fine and unbroken as 
that of the magnificent black mare which she be- 
strode with the ease of one born to the saddle. 

Her skin was tanned a clear brown, and brown, 
too, was the soft hair, windblown now, although 
it glinted ruddily where the slanting rays of the 
sun reached it beneath her hat. Her eyes were 
gray-blue and steady, with the depth which comes 
from looking into far-vast stretches, and her small 
chin was firmly dominant. 

Thoroughbreds both, there was no hint of weari- 
ness in either the girl or her mount, though they 
had ridden hard and far, but as they came parallel 
with the first line of barbed wire which marked 
21 


22 


TWO-GUN SUE 


the domain of the Circle Six she leaned forward 
and murmured caressingly : 

“Easy now, Moonlady. We are almost home 
and the last few miles are always the longest, you 
know 

Suddenly she straightened in the saddle, shad- 
ing her eyes with her hand, for, from the midst 
of a rising dust cloud, upon a branch road to the 
right, there came the sharp, uneven pounding of 
uncontrolled hoofbeats and the figure of a bay 
horse running crazily with empty saddle and 
swinging stirrups bore down almost directly upon 
her. As it neared, the girl saw that the white 
markings upon its breast and shoulder were 
splashed with crimson. Uttering a low exclama- 
tion, she wheeled. The black mare leaped for- 
ward beneath her touch and, riding in at a wide 
curve upon the riderless horse, she seized the 
loose rein in a grip of steel and shouldered the 
crazed animal safely around the turn to bring him 
to a halt. 

“Bull’s-eye!” Something very like a sob tore 
its way from between the girl’s set teeth, but her 
eyes flashed. “Bull’s-eye, they’ve got you. 
Where is your master?” 

The horse, trembling in every limb, whinnied 
softly with pain, but the wild look faded out of 
the great blood-shot eyes as he rolled them at her. 


THE HOLD-UP 


23 


It was as if he were trying with all his might to 
speak. The girl examined the wound in his 
shoulder and then cast the rein free. 

“Home, BulPs-eye. You can make it, old boy. 
Go home and tell them what has happened to 
Lee.” 

Responding to the urge in her tone as to the 
sting of a whip, Bull’s-eye gathered his all but 
spent forces and sprang staggeringly forward 
along the road which led toward the distant ranch 
gates. The girl felt for an instant at the leather 
belt low-hung about her waist and then wheeled 
the black mare into the by-way, straining her eyes 
through the settling dust ahead. 

If Lee had been riding line at the extreme end 
of the east section and he had been as badly 
wounded as his horse she might not find him in 
time. Even now it might be too late. The state 
road crossed this a mile or so ahead and it might 
be that someone had seen the riderless horse, 
recognized his markings and given the alarm, but 
few of the neighboring ranchmen would be trav- 
ersing it at this time in the afternoon and the 
highway was principally given over to occasional 
touring motorists. If the darkness should come 
before she found Lee . 

Stifling an unmistakable sob this time, the girl 
bent low over the neck of the black mare, urging 


24 


TWO-GUN SUE 


her to the limit of her speed. The lines of barbed 
wire, gleaming in the last rays of the setting sun, 
flashed past her on either hand like streaks of fire 
and the dust rose in spiral whirls behind. 

She neared the state road and then all at once 
above the rhythmic beat of Moonlady ’s flying feet 
there came to the girl’s ears the humming roar 
of a high-powered car, still subdued by distance 
but rapidly approaching. With a light but firm 
touch she slowed the black mare into a loping 
stride and rode out upon the highway where she 
halted squarely in its center with one hand up- 
raised. 

But the huge, oncoming car showed no disposi- 
tion to stop. It advanced upon her with undimin- 
ished speed while its driver and the figure beside 
him waved peremptory arms and a masculine 
shout was lost in the roar of the engine. 

The girl did not move or lower her hand, but 
the other crept to her holster and came away with 
something levelled and gleaming. The car 
careened suddenly with a shriek of outraged 
brakes and came to a jarring stop not two lengths 
from Moonlady ’s tense but immovable figure. 

< ‘Sorry, but I’ll have to borrow your car.” 
The girl’s tones rang out clearly and firmly above 
the imprecations of the man beside the chauffeur 
on the front seat. < ‘ There ’s a man hurt . ’ ’ 


THE HOLD-UP 


25 


“A hold-up.” The hysterical scream came in 
a high feminine voice from the tonneau. * ‘Briggs, 
why did you stop? Why didn’t you run the 
wretch down?” 

“It’s a — a woman — ” the chauffeur began apol- 
ogetically, but the girl on the black mare was 
already returning her pistol to its holster. 

“I didn’t mean to frighten anybody, but you 
wouldn’t slow up and I’ve got to have your 
car,” she explained. “ There has been an acci- 
dent ” 

“ Drive on, Briggs.” A bulky form swathed in 
veils and a silk duster rose suddenly in the rear 
of the car. “Dacon, are you a worm? Briggs, 
drive on, I say. If that creature doesn’t get out 
of the road .” 

Two hands flew to the girl’s belt this time, there 
was a quick turn of the slender wrists and twin 
muzzles gleamed straight from her hips at the 
occupants of the car. 

‘‘Get out.” She spoke low but very distinctly. 
“This is a hold-up, if you like, but it is a matter 
of life and death. There is a wounded man out 
there on the range and I have got to reach him. 
Get out, all of you, except the driver.” 

The large woman had shrunk back with a second 
horrified shriek at sight of the guns, but now a 
taller, more slender figure rose beside her and a 


26 TWO-GUN SUE 

cold, languid, infinitely contemptuous voice 
drawled : 

“Father, are you going to permit us to be de- 
spoiled of our car and forced out upon this road 
by any such flimsy excuse as that? The woman 
wouldn’t dare to fire ” 

The sharp bark of a single shot cleaving straight 
upward into the air caught the word from her 
lips. The black mare’s ears twitched, but she 
gave no other sign. 

Not so the occupants of the car. The chauffeur 
settled matters for himself by promptly sitting 
back and elevating both hands above his head, the 
large lady shrieked once more and covered her 
eyes, and the second man beside the driver opened 
the door and stepped spryly down into the road, 
sweeping off his goggles and cap as he did so to 
reveal a head sparsely covered with grizzled hair. 

“We are at your service, madam,” he remarked 
with grim humor and turned to the tonneau door. 
“My dear, you should know by experience that 
I never take issue with a woman, much less one 
who has so convincing an argument on her side.” 

The tall, feminine figure alone had remained 
unmoved, and now, disdaining his hand, it de- 
scended and stood waiting while the elderly man 
assisted the stouter occupant of the tonneau to 
alight. 


THE HOLD-UP 


27 


Meanwhile, still covering them, the girl had 
slipped from her saddle, and replacing one pistol 
she turned the black mare and then touched her 
lightly on the flank. 

“Go home, Moonlady!” she commanded as she 
had to BulPs-eye. “They’ll know I’ve gone for 
Lee.” 

The mare gave one questioning glance from her 
mistress to the strange monster of a machine and 
then trotted off obediently back up the side road 
while the girl approached the car and the trio who 
stood beside it. 

“If you take that road to the first turning to 
your right and then follow the wire fencing it will 
lead you straight to the gates of a ranch where 
they’ll take you in,” she announced. “Your car 
will be brought to you there as soon as I have 
done with it.” 

The bulky figure had shrunk back in horror at 
her approach, but the taller one turned away with 
a mere shrug while the elderly man asked: 

“Can you tell me how far it is to the hospitable 
gates you mention?” He spoke with ironic cour- 
tesy, but the girl appeared oblivious to his 
sarcasm. 

“About six miles; four after you strike the 
fence line. You’ll find a town with a hotel of a 
sort a few miles further should you prefer that, 


28 


TWO-GUN SUE 


and they’ll lend you horses at the ranch if you 
can ride them.” 

There was no hint of contempt in her matter- 
of-fact tone, but the elderly man reddened slightly. 

“If this ranch you mention is the nearest, I 
fear we must endeavor to reach it and throw our- 
selves upon the mercy of its owner, but you seem 
very confident of our welcome.’ ’ 

“In this part of the country we don’t refuse 
our help in time of need, or close our doors to 
anyone.” She mounted to the seat beside the 
chauffeur, the pistol still resting lightly upon the 
hip furthest from him. “Turn this car and 
drive back as fast as you can until you come to 
a break in the fence where the wires are down on 
this side of the road ; then cut straight 
through it.” 

“Yes, ma’am!” he responded with alacrity. 
“It’s back about three miles. Saw it when we 
passed and there’s a dead horse lyin’ there; a 
sort of a calico pony.” 

Without a word or glance at his employers he 
turned the switch key and stepped on the starter. 
With the first low humming of the engine the car 
began to back in a sweeping curve, to turn and 
shoot off down the highway in a screening cloud 
of dust. 

A little later, when Garrison Chanler, having 


THE HOLD-UP 


29 


taken leave of Sylvia at the gates of the Circle 
Six, was loping slowly toward the Bar D for 
supper and a smoke with the boss of the outfit 
he came upon a strange group in the road. A 
tall, willowy girl, whose loosened veils revealed 
hair of brilliant gold and almost classically per- 
fect features, was moving forward with a languid 
grace which yet outstripped the pace of a small, 
elderly man and a massively stout woman who 
leaned heavily upon him and expelled each breath 
with a groan. 

The young man pulled up his broncho at the 
same instant that the trio halted and they stared 
at each other for a long moment in mutually 
astounded recognition. 

‘ 1 Garry ! ’ 9 the girl cried at last. * * Garry, where 
in the world 99 

“Chanler, by all that’s wonderful!” The 
elderly man unceremoniously withdrew his arm 
from that of his stout companion and hastened 
forward while she echoed weakly: 

“Mr. Chanler!” 

The young man had flung himself from his horse 
and grasped a hand each of the girl and her father. 

6 1 Daisy ! Mr. Acheson ! You are the last people 
one would have expected to encounter. And Mrs. 
Acheson, too!” He advanced toward her, his 
quick eye taking in their motor attire and gener- 


30 


TWO-GUN SUE 


ally disheveled appearance. “You — you’re not 
on a walking tour, surely. ’ ’ 

1 6 Call it rather a forced march, my boy . 9 9 Dacon 
Acheson spoke with the same grim, dry humor 
which he had evinced a short time before. “We 
were held up awhile back and our car comman- 
deered by an enterprising young female road 
agent . 9 9 

“ ‘Commandeered!’ ” Mrs. Acheson inter- 
rupted in high dudgeon. “The car was stolen, 
Mr. Chanler, and our chauffeur kidnapped. We 
were compelled to abandon it and all our hand 

luggage at the point of a pistol . ’ ’ 

‘ ‘ Two pistols, mother, ’ ’ Daisy corrected. * 6 Do 
let us have all the thrills. ’ ’ 

“ And we were fired upon!” supplemented 

Mrs. Acheson, her tones deepening tragically. 
“It is a miracle that we were not all murdered 
in cold blood. ” 

“What’s this?” Garry stared from one to the 
other of them in incredulous amazement. “You 
cannot be serious. There are no road agents left 
in this part of the country, to say nothing of 
female ones .” 

“ So I would have been willing to swear an hour 
ago, but I have had reason to change my mind,” 
Acheson remarked. “The young woman most 
certainly meant business even though the single 


THE HOLD-UP 


31 


shot she fired was into the air, and our chauffeur 
recognized the signs. You remember Briggs! 1 
selected him to pilot us on this trip because I 
suspect him of an origin in the gangster element 
of the lower East Side and although I did not 
actually anticipate trouble of this sort I thought 
that he would have more nerve in a possible emer- 
gency than the impeccable Frangois. He put up 
his hands without a murmur, however, and I can- 
not say that I blame him, considering that the 
lady had us covered from the start. ’ ’ 

“But it — it’s all too utterly impossible to be- 
lieve !” Garry exploded. “You must have been 
mistaken for some other party and made the butt 
of a stupid sort of practical joke !” 

“If you think it could be anyone’s conception 
of a joke to force a person in my state of health 
to leave her car at the mouth of a — a gun, Mr. 

Chanler, and walk for miles .” Mrs. Ache- 

son’s voice ended in a groan. 

“You spoke of two pistols !” Garry turned 

helplessly to the younger woman. “Was there 
an accomplice! How many were there in the 
gang which held you up!” 

“Only one,” Acheson replied before his daugh-i 
ter could speak. “The young lady was alone on 
a great black horse, but she operated both guns 
most effectively from the hip.” 


32 


TWO-GUN SUE 


From the hip! Two-gun Sue! The thought 
flashed blindingly across Garry ’s mind and for a 
moment his senses reeled. It was utterly absurd, 
of course, and yet what could be more unbeliev- 
able than the actual presence here before him in 
the Western wilderness of this astute Wall Street 
financier and his luxury-loving wife, to say noth- 
ing of the very girl who had been in his thoughts 
that afternoon as the epitome of incongruity with 
his own immediate surroundings. 

Choking back an almost hysterical tendency to 
laugh, the young man eyed the older one specu- 
latively. A girl on a great black horse; hadn’t 
he heard somewhere, from Big Matt perhaps, that 
Susanna Poindexter rode a black mare which she 
had broken herself? If there could be some pos- 
sible explanation ? 

4 ‘But — but didn’t the young woman say any- 
thing?” Garry stammered at last. “You spoke 
of her commandeering the car. Didn’t she offer 
any reason for holding you up in that fashion?” 

“She blocked the road and drew her gun when 

Briggs wouldn’t stop the car ” Acheson began 

again, but once more his wife interrupted. 

“The creature uttered some far-fetched excuse 
about someone having been hurt and it being a 
matter of life and death, but anyone could tell 
by the way she handled those dreadful pistols that 


THE HOLD-UP 


33 


she was a desperate character. She pointed both 
of them at ns when I ordered Briggs to drive on 
and force her to get out of the way after he had 
stopped to avoid running her down, and on 
Daisy’s further remonstrances she fired that shot. 
I consider it a mercy that we were not all killed 
outright . 9 9 

“The — the young woman said that it was a life 
and death emergency?” Garry repeated slowly. 
“She compelled you to leave your car and then 
drove off with Briggs?” 

‘ 1 Yes , 9 9 Acheson affirmed. ‘ i After dismounting 
and sending her horse back along this road which 
she directed us to take . 9 9 

“And where did she say that it would lead?” 
Astonishment had given place to eager interest 
in the young man’s tones. 

“To a ranch where she seemed quite assured 
that we would find hospitality.” The financier 
was eyeing him narrowly. “Look here, Chanler, 
you know something. What is it? What did this 
melodramatic performance mean?” 

“I have no more idea than you, Mr. Acheson,” 
Garry responded. “Did this enterprising road 
agent offer any assurance of returning your stolen 
property?” 

“She said that the car would be brought to us 
there when she had finished with it.” Daisy 


34 


TWO-GUN SUE 


spoke suddenly. “She also mentioned a town 
with a hotel further along if we preferred that to 
the ranch. Who is she, Garry? She was quite 
a remarkable looking young person, who sat her 
horse like a man and issued orders as though she 
were accustomed to being obeyed. I believe that 
you know her. ’ ’ 

“I don’t !” he disclaimed. “I never saw her 
in my life, but if it is the young woman I think 
it may be, I should feel inclined to believe that 
she had some very urgent reason which justified 
her, in her own mind at least, in commandeering 
your car even at the point of a gun — two guns. 
This road leads to the Circle Six ranch and I have 
met the chap who owns it. Let me show you the 
way and I am sure that you will be received with 
all the hospitality in the world.” 

“And it is actually your opinion that my car 
and the hand luggage will be returned to me 
intact, to say nothing of Briggs?” Acheson 
demanded. 

The ghost of a smile flickered in Garry’s eyes, 
but he responded gravely : 

“If I were you, I should feel quite as assured 
of both Briggs and the car as though they were 
in the garage at home.” 


CHAPTER III 


AN UNEXPECTED ALLY 

T HE heart of the girl in the car had given a wild 
leap of exultation when Briggs spoke of the 
dead “calico pony” lying by the road where the 
wires were down. Lee had been able to put up a 
fight, at least, and an examination of the pinto’s 
body might reveal how far he could have run 
before he dropped so that she might calculate the 
approximate distance to the place where Lee must 
be lying. 

She did not even glance back at the trio left 
stranded in the road, but covertly studied the part 
of the chauffeur’s face which was visible beneath 
his visored cap and goggles. His nose was short 
and impudently upturned, but the smooth-shaven 
lips were firm and the square jaw lean and pugna- 
cious and healthily tanned. The red-brown hair 
beneath the cap showed a tendency to curl, close- 
cropped though it was, and there was a boyish 
jauntiness to the set of his broad shoulders as if 
instead of being cowed by this adventure he was 
thoroughly enjoying it. 

“Was the man hurt bad, ma’am?” Briggs did 

35 


•36 


TWO-GUN SUE 


not take his eyes from the road ahead as he asked 
the question, but the friendly interest in his tone 
was disarming after the strain of the last few 
minutes and the girl replied frankly: 

“I don’t know. I’m afraid so. His horse was 
making for home, shot in the shoulder.” 

“I thought as much, when I see the other one 
lyin’ there. I says to myself that there ’d been 
some sort of a scrap and I would have stopped 
right then, only — well, you saw the kind of folks 
I’m workin’ for, ma’am. Don’t you think I’d 
have run you down, though ; I ’d have jditched this 
bus first!” He spoke with an honest sincerity, 
there was no mistaking, and the girl relaxed her 
tense vigilance with a sigh of relief. 

“I wasn’t afraid, and whatever trouble there 
has been here, your people won’t be molested. 
They’ll reach the ranch I spoke of safely and be 
well cared for if the old lady can walk a few 
miles.” 

The shoulders beside her heaved slightly and a 
chuckle came from Briggs’ lips. 

“It would be worth a month’s pay to have Mrs. 
Acheson hear you call her that, ma ’am, and I guess 
she can make it, though I don’t believe she has 
walked a block in ten years ! ” He added abruptly 
in a changed, sobered tone: “We’re gettin’ near 
there now, and you needn’t keep that gun trained 


AN UNEXPECTED ALLY 


37 


on me, for Pm with you! You may want both of 
yours if there’s likely to be any little mix-up, and 
I guess from what I just seen that you’re able 
to handle ’em, ma’am, but if you feel you could 
trust me with my own it’s right under your seat 
there. Of course, you’ve got only my word for 
it that I won’t double-cross you ” 

He turned then for an instant to face her and 
the girl looked into a pair of deep brown eyes as 
confident of being accepted on good faith as those 
of a friendly, intrepid dog. 

Accustomed to quick decisions, the girl nodded 
and slipped her pistol back once more into its 
holster. 

“Your word is good enough, I am sure, but I 
don’t believe that there will be any further gun- 
play. The man we have got to find and bring in is 
my brother, and the only enemies he has are some 
rustlers — cattle thieves, half-breed Mexicans, for 
the most part, who have been running off our 
cows, ’ ’ she explained quickly. 4 4 That is our ranch 
there, on the other side of the fence.” 

4 4 Gee ! All those miles ! — And my party thought 
first that you was stickin’ them up for the bank- 
roll ! ’ ’ He chuckled once more and then exclaimed : 
4 4 Here we are! I’ll need the speed we’ve got to 
hurdle that ditch, but we can come back and have 
a look at the horse. Hold tight, ma ’am ! ’ ’ 


38 


TWO-GUN SUE 


The heavy car swerved, tilted sickeningly and 
seemed for an instant to hurl itself through space, 
landing with a crashing jar which shook every 
bone in the girl’s body as it ploughed through the 
break in the fence and over the uneven ground for 
a few rods. Then with another protesting screech 
of the brake, it halted. 

It had scarcely come to a stop when the girl 
leaped from it and, with the chauffeur close at her 
heels, ran back through the gap with its trailing 
wires to where the dead animal lay. It was a 
Mexican pinto, a wretched specimen of its kind, 
the lean barrel and flanks roweled and scarred 
from past ill-usage and still flecked with bloody 
lather. 

Blood had formed in a wide pool, too, from 
mouth and nostrils, and there was a bullet wound 
in the chest. 

“ Maybe you recognize him by the markings V 9 
Briggs suggested. i ‘ He must have been stole, too, 
away back when he was worth stealing for it looks 
as though some sort of a brand had been burned 
off him there, and again on the hoof. ’ ’ 

The girl shook her head. 

“Some of the punchers might know him, but 
whatever identification marks there were on the 
saddle have been ripped away. You can see where 


AN UNEXPECTED ALLY 39 

the leather is newly cut. He was shot through the 
lungs and can ’t have gone far ! ’ ’ 

She rose from her knees in the trampled earth 
and stood gazing back over the range with strain- 
ing eyes. 

i ‘ That gang was pretty bold about it, or do they 
usually pull off a trick like this in daylight out 
here?” The chauffeur was following her gaze. 
“We didn’t pass a livin’ soul on the state road 
for more than fifty miles cornin’ along, though, so 
maybe they wasn’t takin’ so much of a chance at 
that.” 

4 i They must have known where my brother was 
riding line to-day and lay in wait for him.” The 
girl’s lips tightened. “We ought to be able to 
follow their trail in for a short distance, anyway.” 

“There was more than one of ’em, you think, 
ma’am? This tall grass is trampled down, but 
it’s in kind of a narrow line.” The chauffeur 
paused uncertainly as his unaccustomed eyes 
roved over the patches of crushed mesquite. 

6 * There were two of them and they rode in single 
file. ’ ’ The girl went slowly forward, following the 
fresh trail. “The other horse was bigger, but the 
pinto led ; see where he circled around and doubled 
back? That is when they were looking for their 

yi 


man. 


40 


TWO-GUN SUE 


“Gee!” Briggs remarked again in immense 
respect. “It don’t mean anythin’ to me, ma’am. 
I’d think I was goin’ some if I could tell the make 
of a tire by the tracks of its tread in the road, 
but this beats it! Looks, though, as if they had 
made for that little hollow over there, doesn’t it?” 

The trail was indeed leading in ever narrowing 
circles toward a slight depression in the rolling 
ground fringed with low scrub brush, and as they 
neared it the girl paused and her breath caught 
in her throat. The rank grasses at her feet were 
blotched here and there with ominous splashes of 
reddish-brown. 

‘ ‘ That ’s only where the circus pony back there 
got his, ma’am!” Briggs ventured consolingly. 

The girl shook her head. 

* 1 These are the hoofprints of a single horse. It 
must have been poor Bull’s-eye, and my brother 
can’t be far off, if ” 

Her voice died away in her throat and Briggs 
asked suddenly in a lowered tone : 

“Do you know if there is a rock over there 
behind that bunch of bushes?” 

She followed the direction of his pointing finger 
and her body tensed, for through the elongated 
shadows cast by the low scrub she saw that just 
beyond them there loomed a darker form, as 
though something were crouched or lying motion- 


AN UNEXPECTED ALLY 


41 


less. Without a word the girl handed one of her 
pistols to her companion and then stooping low 
started to creep toward it, but Briggs placed him- 
self before her. 

“No, ma’am,” he whispered determinedly. 
“I’m going first!” 

Cautiously, crouching almost to the ground, he 
circled about the clump with the girl following 
closely after until they came upon the body of a 
man. He was lying upon his back with an arm 
thrown across his face and one leg doubled oddly 
beneath him, and at the first glimpse of the still 
figure the girl gave a little sobbing cry and darted 
forward, to fall upon her knees beside it. 

Gently lifting the limp arm, she drew it down 
to the side of the unconscious form and raised the 
head to cradle it against her knee. The face so 
revealed was that of a very young man, scarcely 
more than a boy, and its resemblance to her own 
was unmistakable, even though it was cast in a 
heavier, masculine mold. His hair, however, was 
yellow, save where an ugly crimson streak matted 
it dangerously close to the temple, and the lashes 
which swept the cheeks, unnaturally pallid now 
beneath their tan, glinted like gold. 

“Is it him!” Briggs asked superfluously, and 
then laid a practiced thumb and forefinger upon 
the flaccid wrist. “ He ’s got a nasty side-swipe on 


42 


TWO-GUN SUE 


the head, ma’am, and I don’t like the way that 
leg is crumpled up under him, but he ain’t dead, 
by a long shot. ’ ’ 

She glanced up for a moment and he saw to his 
inward relief that there were no tears in her eyes, 
but rather a bright, hard light, and her voice was 
curiously even and steady as she replied : 

1 1 It is my brother. His forehead and scalp were 
just grazed by a bullet, but his leg is broken, of 
course ; I ’ve seen more than one of our boys like 
that, and I know. We ’ll have to carry him back to 
the car.” 

“I forgot! I’ve got something there that’ll 
maybe do some good first. ’ ’ Briggs rose and then 
hesitated. “You ain’t afraid of bein’ left here 
alone with him for a minute till I come back, are 
you? ” 

A look was his only answer, and as she bent once 
more over the boy ’s body the chauff eur turned and 
sped away to where they had left the car, just 
inside the fence. When he returned bearing a 
vacuum bottle and a small black bag he found that 
the girl had somehow managed to straighten her 
brother out upon the ground and was cutting away 
the stained and sodden cloth from about his knee. 

“Gee, that’s bad!” Briggs knelt beside her. 
* ‘ Got another ball through the kneecap, didn ’t he ? 
It’s lucky Mrs. Acheson was such a bug about 


AN UNEXPECTED ALLY 


43 


cartiIl , a first-aid kit with her; she’s got enough 
in here for a young hospital, and there’s hot coffee 
in that bottle. ’ ’ 

Together they bandaged the boy’s head and 
shattered knee and then, raising him to a half- 
sitting posture, they forced a little of the warm 
coffee between his lips. He gulped and moaned 
faintly, but gave no further sign, and the girl 
looked up once more at her companion. 

“It will be just as well, perhaps, if he doesn’t 
regain consciousness until we can get him back 
to the ranch and one of the boys can ride in to 
Dexter for the doctor, ’ ’ she remarked, still in that 
level, unemotional tone. “The pain is likely to 
be pretty bad in that knee. We can carry him 

between us to the car ” 

“No, ma’am,” Briggs dissented once more. 
“You just stand aside and I can carry him easy. 
Is Dexter the town you spoke about awhile back 
to the old man — Mr. Acheson, I mean?” 

“Yes. Hadn’t you better get the car out into 
the road again before we put my brother into it? 

That hurdle over the ditch ” 

“I did already, ma’am, when I went back for the 
kit.” He paused and added slyly: “I wouldn’t 
be surprised if the ranch we ’re headed for is the 
same one you directed my party to. ’ ’ 

“It is. It’s the Circle Six.” The girl looked 


44 


TWO-GUN SUE 


somewhat doubtfully from her brother’s recum- 
bent form to the chauffeur. “Are you sure you 
can carry him alone f ’ ’ 

“Watch me!” Briggs grinned, and, with a swift 
but gentle movement, gathered the boy up in his 
arms, and strode off through the gathering dusk, 
while she followed with the bag and bottle. 

The car was at the side of the road, headed once 
more in the direction in which it had originally 
been traveling. The girl settled herself in the 
tonneau, supporting her brother in her arms, as 
the chauffeur eased him down beside her, and they 
started slowly upon the homeward way. 

As they turned into the branch road, Briggs 
glanced over his shoulder. 

“All right, ma’am? Ain’t shakin’ him up too 
much, am I ? ” 

‘ ‘ No. My brother hasn ’t moved. ’ ’ For the first 
time she smiled faintly. “You’ve been awfully 
good; I don’t know how I should have managed 
without you ! ’ ’ 

“Any white man would have done as much!” 
That portion of his face which was visible beneath 
the goggles reddened, however, at her praise. 
“The reason why I asked you about Dexter was 
because this bus can travel faster than any horse, 
and if you’ll send a man with me to show the way 


AN UNEXPECTED ALLY 45 

so that I won’t lose any time, I’ll drive in for the 
doctor as soon as I get yon to the ranch. ’ ’ 

The twilight was deepening into dark when, just 
before they reached the gate of the Circle Six, a 
whirlwind cavalcade swept from it and dashed 
furiously down the road toward them, with Wes 
Hayward in the lead and Tad Mason, Link Dole 
and several more strung out behind him. Briggs 
slowed down and the group separated as they 
came on and drew up on each side of the car. 

“Miss Sue!” Wes gulped. “You found him! 
Gosh-almighty, is he hurt bad ? ’ ’ 

“I’m afraid so. A shot just grazed his head, 
but there’s another through his kneecap,” Su- 
sanna responded. 

‘ i Who done it ? ” The others had crowded their 
bronchos closer. 

“I don’t know, but there’s a dead pinto back 
there on the state road where our wires are 
down. ’ ’ She shifted her burden slightly and a low 
moan came from the boy’s white lips. “Some of 
you might recognize him by the markings.” 

“I reckon we don’t need to see him to figger 
what outfit he belongs to!” Wes turned with a 
quiet menace to the chauffeur. “And you ! You’re 
the feller that had to be held up to make you stop ! 
We been hearin’ all about it from a gray-muzzled 


46 


TWO-GUN SUE 


ole coyote that blew in to the ranch with two 
feemales! You !” 

An ominous murmur arose from the others and 
Susanna cried : 

“No, Wes ! He only obeyed orders at first, and 
he’s been splendid! I never should have been 
able to bring Lee in without his help ! — Let one of 
the boys lead your bronc home and you get in with 
me.” 

The change was effected and as the car started 
off slowly once more the others fell in behind, 
except for Tad Mason, who at a sign from the 
foreman galloped off down the road. 

“We’d ha’ been out lookin’ for you before this, 
Miss Sue, but Clint brought in word that the wires 
were down away over on the aidge of the west 
section, beyond the crick, an’ we kited out there,” 
Wes explained. 

“That must have been just a blind to draw as 
many of you as possible from this end of the 
range.” Susanna had lowered her voice. “You 
.think it was J ake Brower 1 ’ ’ 

“Him or some of that greaser outfit of his’n! 
Sheriff and two of his dep’ties are huntin’ him 
now, but they say he ain’t showed up around 
Dexter for two or three days, nor Pedro Ruiz and 
Felix Mesega either. We ’ve just naterally got to 


AN UNEXPECTED ALLY 47 

run that outfit out of the county, hut we can’t do 
it on the say-so of ” 

He hesitated and Susanna finished for him. 

“Of the del Rio girl? She can’t he so had, 
Wes. Remember how she worked over the boys 
who were hurt when Montana Dan tried to shoot 
up the town?” 

‘ ‘ Good or bad, Miss Sue, when a f eemale gits mad 
at some pore feller ’cause she cain’t put her brand 
on him, there ain’t nothin’ too ornery for her to 
accuse him of ! But Felix Mesega is mixed up in 
this business with Jake, shore. When we got back 
to the ranch house we found that Bull’s-eye had 
come in, shot through the shoulder, and then 
Moonlady. We knew you must be with Lee some- 
where ’s, then, and we was just ridin’ out to find 
you when out of the ranch house comes a little ole 
cuss madder ’n a bobcat, with a yarn about bein’ 
held up by a — a !” 

Words evidently failed the foreman and again 
Susanna supplied them. 

“A woman road agent. You knew, of course, 
that it was I?” 

“I suspicioned it before he’d said ten words, of 
course, after them hosses had come in, and the 
look on Miss Sylvie ’s face when she follered him 
out would have told me, anyways. ’ ’ He paused as 


48 


TWO-GUN SUE 

they turned in at the gates and added: “I opine 
the hoys would ’ve strung him up but there warn ’t 
time.” 

“No, Wes,” Susanna replied gravely. “These 
people are our guests as long as they remain at the 
Circle Six and they must be treated with every 
courtesy, so please pass the word on to the boys. 
When we get Lee into the house, Link or one of the 
others must go in the car here with this man to 
Dexter in order to show him the road and bring 
out Doctor Rankin. ’ ’ 

“If the Doc ain’t off on one of his bootleggin’ 
trips or hittin’ up what’s left from the last one,” 
Wes responded skeptically. “He’s the only one 
nearer than Mammon City, anyways, so we ’ll have 
to chance it. ’ ’ 

Briggs had brought the car to a gentle halt 
before the door of the ranch house and as he 
descended and opened the tonneau door the light 
streamed forth and Sylvia’s voice quavered: 

‘ 4 Oh, Sue, is that you ? Has something happened 
to Lee ? There are some perfectly wonderful peo- 
ple here from New York City and they told me of 
the dreadful thing you had done ! ’ ’ 

“Go back,” retorted Susanna briefly. “Lee is 
hurt, but not badly. Keep those people out of the 
way. I ’ll call you when I need you. ’ ’ 

“I guess Lee is my brother, too!” There was 


49 


AN UNEXPECTED ALLY 

indignant protest, very close to tears, in Sylvia’s 
voice, but she retreated nevertheless, leaving the 
door wide, and Briggs began tentatively: 

1 1 If you ’ll let me carry him in, ma ’am ? ’ ’ 

“I opine we can ’tend to that without your help, 
young feller!” interrupted Wes jealously as the 
rest of the escort drew up on their bronchos, but 
again Susanna intervened. 

“Of course you and the boys can, Wes, but I told 
you before that if it hadn’t been for this young 
man’s help and kindness I could never have 
brought Lee home. Let him give you a hand and 
we ’ll put Lee on the couch in the living-room till 
Doctor Bankin comes. ’ ’ 

Together Wes and Briggs carried the still un- 
conscious boy into the spacious room while the 
punchers dismounted and crowded about the door- 
way muttering in subdued fashion among them- 
selves. Then the grimly taciturn Link Dole started 
off with Briggs for Dexter, the punchers turned 
their bronchos into the corral and made their way 
to the cook house and Susanna was left alone with 
her brother. 

But not for long. Even as she bent over him 
to moisten the bandage about his head a quick but 
light step sounded behind her and the little, 
elderly, grizzled man appeared. 

“It seems that we owe you an apology, madam.” 


50 


TWO-GUN SUE 

He spoke in a subdued, dry tone. “My name is 
Dacon Acheson. I trust your brother has not 
been severely injured. Had you explained we 
should have been only too glad to take you back 
to the scene of his — er — accident.’ ’ 

“And subject your family to the possibility of 
a real little shooting party?” Susanna asked 
coldly. “As I remember, I wasn’t given the oppor- 
tunity for an explanation of any sort.” 

“That was entirely the fault of Amelia — my 
wife !” Acheson said quickly, but still in that sub- 
dued tone with a side glance at the still figure on 
the couch. 4 ‘ She has a — a most positive disposi- 
tion. However, you will admit, my dear young 
lady, that your argument was most effective! I 
understand that my chauffeur has gone for a 
physician to attend your brother, but in the mean- 
time my object in intruding upon you is to offer 
my services if I can be of use to you in any way.” 

“Thank you,” Susanna added pointedly; “I 
hope that my sister has made you and your family 
comfortable?” 

“Oh, quite!” He hastened to assure her and 
then hesitated. “I have learned that the hotel in 
the town, a few miles away, which you suggested, 
while excellent of its type would not be — er — 
pleasing to Mrs. Acheson and our daughter, and 
the nearest one of the sort to which they are accus- 


AN UNEXPECTED ALLY 


51 


tomed is in a place called Mammon City. Will you 
be so good as to tell me how far that is and if the 
roads are quite safe at night? Mrs. Acheson, as 
you know, is nervous and highly strung and in 
spite of her appearance, far from well ” 

1 ‘ Mr. Acheson/ ’ Susanna interrupted with a 
calmness bordering on exasperation. ‘ ‘ Such hos- 
pitality as the Circle Six can boast we offer you 
gladly until Mrs. Acheson feels able to continue 
her journey. Please make yourselves as much at 
home as you find possible in these unaccustomed 
surroundings. Cook will serve dinner in a little 
while, and in the meantime I feel that my brother 
needs my undivided attention. I hope that under 
the circumstances you will forgive my unceremo- 
nious appropriation of your car this afternoon 
and if you require anything my sister will be only 
too glad to play hostess in my stead . 7 7 

Stammering his thanks the elderly little man 
accepted the hint and withdrew. A moment later 
Lee Poindexter opened his eyes. 

1 ‘ Sue ! It was Jake Brower ! He got me!” 


CHAPTER IV 


THE LAST STAND 

H OW’S he cornin’, Miss Sue! ” Wes Hayward 
lowered his voice sepulchrally, although 
the two were over near the corral separated by 
several rods from the rear veranda of the ranch 
house. “Did Doc Rankin make a decent job of it 
last night?” 

“Splendid! I don’t think that even a doctor 
from Mammon City could have performed a better 
operation, and Lee is resting easily,” Susanna 
replied happily. Then her brow clouded. “You 
haven’t heard anything from Big Matt Cooley or 
his deputies about their search for the men who 
clipped the wire over beyond the creek yesterday, 
have you? I’ve been talking with Clint and he 
seems to think it was Jake Brower or some of his 
gang of rustlers, but Lee was away over at the 
other end of the ranch on the east section, you 
know, and yet his first conscious words to me last 
night were that Jake himself got him.” 

Wes chewed reflectively on the quid he had not 
been able to dispose of at Susanna’s sudden 
appearance and then remarked : 

52 


THE LAST STAND 


53 


“Wal, Miss Sue, I think it’s like you said when 
we met up with you on the road in that car last 
night. Them wires acrost the crick was nipped 
by Mesega or some of the gang under Brower’s 
orders just as a blind to draw as many of us in 
that dz-rection as possible, while Jake hisself went 
to settle up accounts with Lee. Thing is, how’d 
Jake know Lee was ridin , line on the east section 
yesterday, and alone, at that? Big Matt nor none 
of his dep’ties except Sim Moser was in Dexter 
last night when Link and Bill rode in for the Doc. ’ ’ 

“ ‘Bill’?” repeated Susanna with a ghost of a 
smile. 

Wes’ weatherbeaten face reddened and then he 
chuckled. 

“The feller who drives for them three swells 
you ’ve got up to the house, ’ ’ he explained. 1 ‘ They 
call him ‘ Briggs, ’ like he didn’t have any first 
name to him, but he ’pears to be a regular hombre, 
and he says he ’d quit ’em right now only he prom- 
ised to get ’em home to New York. When he does, 
he wants to hike back here pronto, and if you say 
so, Miss Sue, I can give him a job. He don’t 
know a shorthorn from a white-face hardly, but 
he’ll learn quick, and if you’re goin’ to get one of 
them gas engines you was talkin’ about ?” 

Susanna’s own face sobered. 

“I — I don’t know, Wes. You are the only one 


54 


TWO-GUN SUE 


except Lee who knows how matters really stand 
about the Circle Six and the fight I’ve been making 
to keep it. It may pass out of our hands before 
the gas engine becomes a possibility. ’ ’ 

“Oh, shucks, Miss Sue!” Wes spoke with awk- 
ward sympathy. “We’re doin’ fine this year, and 
that lawyer hombre in Mammon City can shore 
stretch things a little further ! ’ ’ 

“I’m afraid not. Uncle Dave Hartwell would 
do anything he could for us, but he has already 
stretched things, as you call it, just about to the 
limit. Has anyone ridden in to Dexter for the 
mail yet this morning ? ’ ’ 

4 4 Tad Mason ; he ought to be back now any time. 
And there’s another thing, Miss Sue. It was 
Tad who rode back last night to have a look at 
that dead pinto by the break in the fence and he 
found someone else there ahead of him ; that East- 
ener who’s stayin’ down to the Central Hotel. 
Chanler, his name is. He ’lowed to Tad that he’d 
seen that pinto more’n once ’round Dexter and 
the hombre that was ridin’ him was small and 
quick as a cat, and darker than the ordinary 
greaser, like he wasn’t altogether Mex, with thick 
lips and a flat nose and a scar down one side of 
his face.” 

4 4 Pedro Ruiz!” Susanna breathed. 4 4 Jake’s 
head man next to Feliciano Mesega ! ’ ’ 


THE LAST STAND 


55 


“ That’s who it sounds like,” nodded Wes. 
“That Chanler hombre’s got sharp eyes, if he is 
lazy lookin’, and moseyin’ ’round Dexter with 
nothin’ on his mind hut his hat. You ain’t met 
up with him, have you, Miss Sue ? ’ ’ 

Susanna shook her head. 

“No. Lee knows him and Sylvia met him at a 
dance at the Bar D, but I never saw him. If he ’s 
sure about the description of the man he noticed 
on that pinto the sheriff ought to be told at once.” 
‘ ‘ I told Tad to leave word for Big Matt in Dexter 

this morning ” The foreman broke off and 

shading his eyes with his hand squinted at a faint 
puff of dust rising in little swirls far off down the 
road. ‘ 1 That must be Tad comin ’ now. ’ ’ 

“Send the mail up to the ranch house, then, 
Wes, and — I may want to talk things over with you 
later.” Susanna moved off. “Let me know if 
there is any news from the sheriff. ’ ’ 

After Doc Bankin’s ministrations on the pre- 
vious evening Lee had been placed in his own bed. 
Now, as Susanna entered the dim, cool living-room, 
a tall, brilliantly blonde girl rose slowly from a 
low chair and faced her. There was thinly veiled 
hostility in that cold, supercilious stare, but 
Susanna regarded her serenely. 

“I hope that you were made as comfortable as 
our conveniences here permit,” she remarked 


56 


TWO-GUN SUE 


quietly. “If there is anything that you or your 
mother require, please do not hesitate to ask for 
it. My little sister is inexperienced and with 
sudden illness in the house one is apt to fail in 
the lesser considerations for one’s guests.” 

“We only regret that we are compelled to force 
ourselves upon your hospitality for a day or two, 
because of the severe nervous shock which my 
mother suffered yesterday.” There was a pal- 
pable sneer in Daisy Acheson’s tones. “Although 
we realize that the necessity was in turn forced 
upon us, you can appreciate the fact that we do 
not care to consider ourselves guests and it is 
infinitely distasteful to us to accept any hospi- 
tality. W e would prefer to pay ? ’ ’ 

Susanna interrupted her and now there was 
something ominous in the even, level courtesy of 
her voice. 

“I’m sorry. I don ’t believe there is any board- 
ing-place nearer than Dexter, where, beside the 
Central Hotel, you would find only Ma Hooper’s. 
There is plenty of bootleg whiskey in town and 
as she caters mostly to Mexicans and punchers on 
a holiday, there are sometimes shots which are 
not fired into the air, and which might prove even 
a greater shock to Mrs. Acheson’s nerves than 
she encountered yesterday. I assure you that 


THE LAST STAND 57 

your stay here at the Circle Six will be made as 
little distasteful to you as possible . 9 9 

She bowed slightly and without waiting for the 
other girl to reply, turned and passed around the 
gallery into her brother’s room. 

“Hello, Sue.” He greeted her weakly from 
among his pillows. “How is Bull’s-eye? You 
told me he reached home ?” 

“He’s all right, Lee, dear.” There was a sur- 
prising quiver of tenderness in Susanna’s usually 
calm, capable tones as she bent to smooth the 
coverlet. “ I ’ve just been out to see him, and Wes 
says the ball only grazed the flesh without touch- 
ing a muscle or tendon; he’ll be as good as ever 
in a week or so.” 

“Thank the Lord. I don’t think another horse 
could ever be the same to me as old Bull’s-eye.” 
Lee kicked out his sound leg beneath the covers 
with a boyishly impatient motion and added irrele- 
vantly: “Sue, I — I wish you’d just forget what 
I told you last night about Jake Brower. I mean, 
don’t let Big Matt know who got me, or even Wes 
and our boys.” 

“But, Lee, why?” Susanna’s big, gray-blue 
eyes opened wide. “Hasn’t Jake made trouble 
enough?” 

“It isn’t that. The rustling is a different 


58 


TWO-GUN SUE 


matter, but this is a personal affair between J ake 
and me, and I don’t want him caught or run out 
of the county till I’m on my feet again. I don’t 
believe I’ll be laid up as long as that fool Doc 
Rankin says I shall, but I don’t care if it’s a year. 
Jake’s my man, and I want to get him myself. 
We’re Poindexters, Sue, and you know that our 
people for generations back in the South have 
settled their own scores. ’ ’ The boy ’s face flushed. 
“I don’t need any sheriff’s posse to fight my 
battles for me.” 

“Yes, we are Poindexters.” Susanna spoke 
quietly enough, but her small head was lifted 
proudly and her eyes flashed for an instant. Then 
she added: “I can’t go out and get Jake and his 
pack of greasers for you, Lee, because I’m only 
a girl, and it is too late to keep it from the sheriff. 
You see, Jake wasn’t alone last night when he lay 
in wait for you. ’ ’ 

“I know it. ” Lee nodded in grim satisfaction. 
“Couldn’t tell who the other fellow was, it all 
happened so quick, but I shot his pinto from under 
him. ’ ’ 

“Yes, and that dead pinto has been recognized 
by an Easterner who is staying at the Central 
Hotel as one he has seen Pedro Ruiz ride. Of 
course, if Ruiz is caught he will give Jake away 
fast enough to save himself.” 


THE LAST STAND 


59 


“Confound the luck.” Lee moved impatiently 
once more and then suppressed a groan. “An 
Easterner, you say? That must be Chanler; he’s 
an awfully good sort and I asked him to drop out 
to the Circle Six sometime. Say, Sylvia told me 
this morning that we ’ve got a real society couple 
from New York staying here, with a gorgeously 
beautiful daughter. How did it happen? She 
wouldn’t give me any details.” 

“They — they’re touring and they had a slight 
accident to their car,” Susanna explained faintly. 
“They’ll be gone in a day or two and won’t bother 
you. Try to sleep now, Lee. Wun See will bring 
you in some broth in a little while. ’ ’ 

“ ‘Broth!’ ” Lee snorted contemptuously. “I 
want some steak and pie. I tell you, Sue, I’ll be 
out of this in a week in spite of Doc Bankin if I 
have to get Wes to make me a crutch.” 

Smiling back at the rebellious patient Susanna 
left the room, but her smile faded when on the 
back porch she found Tad Mason waiting for her 
with a single long, legal-looking envelope in his 
hands. It bore the postmark of Mammon City 
and in the upper, left-hand corner the name of 
David Hartwell, attorney and counsellor-at-law. 

Without heeding the puncher ’s excited story of 
his conference with the sheriff, she tore open the 
envelope and read the brief, typed enclosure it 


60 


TWO-GUN SUE 


contained. As her eyes followed the lines they 
darkened and the color ebbed slowly from her 
face. When she had finished she folded the page 
once more and stood running the creases idly 
between fingers that trembled slightly, but her 
voice was still steady as she asked: 

“What were you saying, Tad? Something 
about Big Matt?” 

“Yes, Miss Sue.” In his eagerness to impart 
news he had not observed the impression which 
the letter had made upon her. “You know that 
neither J ake Brower nor them greasers that trail 
with him have been ’round Dexter for nigh onto 
a week? Wal, that hombre from the East who 
reckernized Pedro Buiz’s pinto when I couldn’t, 
found where them rustlers had been hidin’ out 
and told Big Matt. It’s at Grosscup’s Pool, and 
the sheriff, he aims to git a diamond hitch on the 
whole bunch tonight — reg’lar roundup. Miss 
Sue ?” 

“Yes, Tad?” she asked as he hesitated. 

“We don’t none of us just get the brand on 
that Garry Chanler, the Easterner. If he’d ha’ 
come here to the Circle Six and declared hisself 
to you or Wes we’d ha’ knowed he was sent by 
the Cattleman’s Protective Association. He 
don’t say nothin’ nor do nothin’ ’cept ride out 
every afternoon on one of Sim Moser’s broncs, 


THE LAST STAND 


61 


like lie was ridin’ for his health, but he shore do 
keep his eyes open. I — I kinder wish you’d meet 
up with him and look him over, now Lee’s hog- 
tied.” 

“Perhaps I shall.” Susanna was still finger- 
ing the letter. “Tad, go and find "Wes for me, 
will you? Tell him I’ll be out behind the cook- 
house in ten minutes.” 

“Miss Sue?” A breaking note in her tones 
had penetrated all at once to his consciousness. 
“I’ll shore git him pronto but it — it ain’t more 
trouble that I brung you in that letter?” 

“No, Tad; not more trouble, but I’ve got to 
go away for a day or two, and I ’ll have to depend 
on you and the other boys as well as Wes to see 
that Lee is kept in bed and gets on all right, and 
that everyone of the outfit treats our visitors here 
so that when they leave, the Circle Six may still be 
proud of the open gates and — and the light in the 
window. ’ ’ 

Tears were in Susanna’s voice and eyes now 
and Tad cleared his throat gustily before he 
replied. 

“I guess there ain’t none of the outfit goin’ to 
forgit what the Circle Six means, Miss Sue, no 
matter how — how ornery the folks is that stops 
here. And as for Lee, he cain’t git out of bed 
noways, lessen we help him, and with that knee 


62 


TWO-GUN SUE 


of his ’ii he’s good for a month plumb where he is. 
Don’t you worry none while you gotta go away; 
we ain’t none of us failed you nor the ranch yit. 
I — I’m goin’ to git Wes.” 

He turned and started off precipitately in the 
direction of the corral and Susanna slipped the 
letter back into its envelope, wiped her eyes sur- 
reptitiously on a wisp of a handkerchief and 
turned to re-enter the house, when Sylvia con- 
fronted her, with hazel eyes ablaze and narrowed 
felinely. 

4 ‘ Sue, what have you done to — to Miss Acheson ? 
She was awfully nice to me before and now she 
will hardly speak to me. After what you did 
yesterday . ’ ’ 

“ Sylvia.’’ Susanna, stern-lipped, placed her 
hand upon her younger sister’s shoulder. “I 
am going to Mammon City for a day or two. 
Eemember that the Achesons are our guests and 
everything must be done for their comfort but 
we — you and Lee and I — are not in their debt; 
don’t allow Miss Acheson to make you feel small, 
my dear, because you have not yet had an oppor- 
tunity to know her world. I shall, of course, leave 
Wes in charge of the ranch, but you are the 
hostess in my place here at the house. See that 
you don’t forget it, no matter what little unpleas- 
antness may arise. I prefer not to discuss with 


THE LAST STAND 


63 


you what I did yesterday, and I positively forbid 
your mentioning it to Lee or giving him one single 
detail if he asks. Do you understand ?” 

Sylvia’s cupid ’s-bow lips pouted sullenly, but 
she had never heard quite that tone in her sister ’s 
voice before and gradually the fire died out of 
her eyes and she lowered them discreetly. 

“I’m sure I don’t want to talk about it to any- 
one,” she remarked loftily. “Are you going to 
Mammon City to see that tiresome old Mr. Hart- 
well again? I don’t see why he can’t leave us 
alone.” 

“If he had, Sylvia, the Circle Six would have 
been taken away from us before this,” retorted 
Susanna, and then in sudden weariness she turned 
away. ‘ ‘ Tell Wun See to take Lee ’s broth to him 
when it is ready. I’ve got to see Wes.” 

‘ ‘ Oh, Sue ! ” In swift, impulsive contrition the 
younger girl threw her arms about the neck of 
the other. “I am sorry I was so horrid, but I 
do want to know really wonderful people like 
the Achesons some day; I don’t want to stay for 
always on the Circle Six. I know you are having 
a lot of trouble and it is for me and Lee as well 
as yourself. I wish I could help.” 

“Then run into my room and pack a bag for 
me, dear.” With instant generosity Susanna 
dropped a light kiss upon her cheek. “This is 


64 


TWO-GUN SUE 


Thursday and I’ll try to be home by the end of 
the week, but if not I’ll send you a wire. Be 
careful not to worry Lee over this; it is just a 
stupid mix-up about some papers that have to be 
drawn up and signed and witnessed all over 
again. ’ ’ 

“If that’s all, I don’t see why you can’t get 
back by tomorrow night?” Sylvia paused in the 
doorway. 

“I may have to wait for a man who has been 
away and who must sign the papers, too.” 
Susanna told her brave falsehood glibly. “Hurry 
with the bag, dear. I want to get the noon train 
from Dexter.” 

Wes Hayward was striding back and forth 
frowningly in the small patch of shade afforded 
by the rear wall of the cook house and when 
Susanna rounded the corner he advanced toward 
her anxiously. 

“Tad said you wanted to see me, Miss Sue, and 
that you was goin’ away. You didn’t tell me 
nothin’ ’bout it afore the mail come and I — it 
ain’t ’bout the Circle Six?” 

She nodded. 

“Lee mustn’t be worried over this and start 
up a fever, and Sylvia is too young to have to 
meet any trouble before it actually comes, Wes, 
but this is our last chance ; the last stand. Uncle 


THE LAST STAND 


65 


Dave seems to think from his letter that 
it will be a miracle if I can get even a thirty- 
day extension on those notes but I’ve got to 
try.” 

“ Thirty days!” Wes growled in dismay. 
“Why, Miss Sue, we’ve got to have till the fall 
round-up or we ain’t got a chance in h — in the 
world to pull through.” 

“We’ve said that for two years now, you know; 
first the spring round-up, then the fall. It wasn’t 
our fault, but bankers in a place like Mammon 
City, who only know cattle ranches by the reports 
sent in to them, can’t realize all the things we 
have had to fight against and how hard we have 
tried, you more than anyone, Wes. We’ve man- 
aged to keep up the interest, but the notes them- 
selves are long overdue and they can force a sale 
of the Circle Six in order to get back the money 
that father borrowed from them, ’ ’ Sue explained. 
“I ought to have told you that the last extension 
I got on the notes would be up five days from now, 
perhaps, but I didn ’t want to discourage you and 
I hoped against hope that we could put off the 
final reckoning until after the fall round-up. It 
may be that we shall be able to, after all, for who 
knows what may happen in the next thirty days f 
I felt, though, that you ought to know the truth 
now.” 


66 TWO-GUN SUE 

Wes ran his hand despondently through his 
grizzled hair. 

“Best bunch of cattle we’ve had in years, too.” 
He spoke as if to himself. “Good weather, fine 
grazin’, lots of water and nothin’ to bother us 
but that ornery gang of rustlers, and now on top 
of what happened to Lee yesterday, we’ve got this 
starin’ us in the face. We’ve all done our best, 
Miss Sue, and if it hadn’t ’a’ been for you and 
what you made out to do with that lawyer hombre 
down to Mammon City the ranch would have gone 
long ago. W e — we ’ve just got to keep on hopin ’. ’ 9 

“That’s the spirit, Wes.” Susanna forced a 
note of cheer in her tones. “You’ve got full 
charge of the Circle Six as usual, of course. I 
hate to leave, even for a few days, with Lee hurt 
and the Ache son party here, to say nothing of 
the further trouble you may have with Jake 
Brower and his greasers, but it cannot be helped. ’ ’ 

“I’ll take keer of Jake and his gang if Big 
Matt don’t,” Wes promised grimly. “Here 
comes Link with the buckboard to drive you in 
to Dexter for your train. Bill offered to take 
you in that car, but I guessed one ride in anythin’ 
belongin’ to them folks was enough for you.” 

“It was, though it was kind of Bill to suggest 
it. Sylvia ’s calling me from the back porch, too, 
and I’ve got to see Lee for a minute.” Susanna 


THE LAST STAND 67 

held out her hand. “Goodbye, Wes. Look out 
for things/ ’ 

“Goodbye, Miss Sue.” He crushed the small 
hand in both of his huge, horny ones and a note 
of anxiety mingled with the genuine affection in 
his voice. “Goodbye and — good luck.” 


CHAPTER V 


THAT CHANLER HOMBRE 

“T ’LL be dawg-gone if all the folks who’ve come 
* here from the East lately ain’t plumb loco.” 
Link Dole gnawed off a generous wedge of plug 
cut and passed the cake of tobacco to the foreman 
as together they issued from the cook house after 
the midday dinner. ‘ ‘ There ’s that Chanler hombre 
hangin’ ’roun’ Dexter for no reason you c’n cal- 
c’late, lessen he’s hidin’ out, an’ now this little 
gray-muzzled coyote that Bill drives for, he’s 
actin’ mighty strange hisself.” 

“Acheson?” Wes’ shrewd eyes narrowed as 
he handed back the plug. “I ain’t seen him to- 
day ; what ’s he been doin 

“I come on him this mornin’ ’bout three miles 
out on the range to’ards the west section, bent 
low an’ sorter amblin’ ’roun’ in a circle, like he 
was millin’ slow all by hisself. I figgered maybe 
he’d had a sunstroke an’ I pulled up real in- 
t ’rested to watch him, but the minute he seen me 
he come over, yankin’ off that kid-sized hat of 
his an’ wipin’ his forehead. ‘Very odd grass,’ he 
says to me. ‘Very. We have nothing like it in 
68 


THAT CHANLER HOMBRE 


69 


the East. What do you call it!’ ‘Just plain, 
ev’ryday mesquite,’ I tells him. ‘You come 
through several hundred miles of it a ’ready in 
that gas bronc of your’n, an’ it grows right up 
dost to the ranch house.’ He let that go right 
over his head, though, an’ ast me a lot of fool 
questions ’bout cattle raisin’ an’ feedin’ till I got 
shut of him at last. Just before I hitched up to 
take Miss Sue to the deepo I got sight of him 
’bout half a mile back here, an’ danged if he 
wasn’t millin’ again like all possessed.” It had 
been a long speech for the usually taciturn Link 
and he paused to take breath before he added: 
“He’s some hiker for an old feller. Shouldn’t 
be surprised if we’d come on him any part of 
the range, practicin’ that sun dance of his, but 
whatever his idee is, ’tain’t got nothin’ to do with 
mesquite.” 

“ ’Bout half a mile back here” the foreman 
repeated reflectively. ‘ ‘ N ear the spring f ’ ’ 

“Right dost up to that bunch of rocks an’ 
mesquite bushes that lines it,” Link replied. 

“And ’bout three miles out to’ards the east 
section would be where the crick turns.” Wes 
chuckled drily. “He’s shore heard talk of Gross- 
cup and his pool, and got it into his head that 
maybe some gold could be panned out here. ’S 
if we wouldn’t savvy what was on the Circle Six. 


70 


TWO-GUN SUE 


Let him keep on millin’, long’s he don’t mill ’roun* 
me. I ain’t noways crazy ’bout that fam’ly.” 

But Link had no sooner loped off toward the 
nearby section where he was riding line that day 
than the dapper, gray-haired Mr. Aches on came 
spryly down the porch steps of the ranch house 
and hailed the foreman peremptorily. Wes did 
not advance to meet him, but with a muttered 
imprecation he waited, lounging stolidly against 
the cook house wall until the older man had come 
up to him. 

“You are the foreman, I understand,” Acheson 
began affably. ‘ 1 How long have you been on this 
ranch, may I ask? Have a cigar?” 

He drew a couple of fat, opulently banded 
Havanas from his pocket and tendered them, but 
Wes shook his head. 

“Thankee, Mister Acheson. I don’t smoke, I 
chaw, and I’ve got a right good wedge of plug 
now. I been here nigh onto eighteen year ; they 
ain’t no secret ’bout it.” 

“Of course not.” The financier’s laugh was a 
trifle forced as he returned one of the cigars to 
his pocket and proceeded to light the other. “I’m 
curious about the history of these great ranches 
out in this part of the country, that is all; some 
of them are bigger than whole counties back where 
we live. Miss Poindexter tells me that her father 


THAT CHANLER HOMBRE 


71 


came from Virginia and was the first to start 
cattle raising here. What was the land used for 
before that, do you know?” 

“Just prairie, I reckon.” Wes straightened. 
“I can let you have a nice, well-broke pinto if 
you’d like to sorter ride ’roun’ and take a look 
over the ranch ; shouldn ’t advise you to go to the 
far sections, though. The gang ain’t rounded 
up yet that got Lee yesterday . 9 ’ 

“A most regrettable affair. I’ve had a little 
talk with him, — splendid young fellow.” Ache- 
son’s tone had assumed an unctous enthusiasm. 
“Too bad the — ah — the elder Miss Poindexter was 
so excited when she met us on the road yesterday 
that she was unable to explain the situation clearly 
to us, or that little misunderstanding would never 
have arisen. I would myself have gone back with 
her to look for her brother; it was positively 
dangerous for her to attempt the rescue without 
proper protection, in the event that those mur- 
derous rascals were still lurking about in the 
vicinity, and Briggs would have been of no use, 
hampered as he was by the handling of the car.” 

‘ ‘ Oh, you needn ’t have worried none ’bout Miss 
Sue, ” Wes drawled easily. 1 i She ’s nigh onto the 
best shot in the county and I reckon you seen 
she could take keer of herself all right. But ’bout 
the pinto ?” 


72 


TWO-GUN SUE 


Dacon Acheson shook his head. 

“My riding days are over, I am sorry to say,” 
he replied. “I am going to take the car and 
drive into the town this afternoon. I understand 
the father of these young people here founded it ; 
he must have been a remarkable man to leave a 
professor’s chair in college and make such a suc- 
cess of a ranch as the Circle Six appears to be. 
He never tried anything but cattle raising ? ’ 9 
Wes turned his eyes slowly until they encoun- 
tered the sly but keen sidelong glance of his self- 
constituted companion and then as slowly they 
traveled out again, with no change of expression 
over the rolling, grassy range. 

“ Nobody ’roun’ here never done anything else 
but one pore, ornery fool who tried to pan 
gold out of the crick and went looney over it,” 
he responded carelessly. “I ain’t never heard 
tell of no gold in the state. ’ ’ 

“I fancy there are no other valuable mineral 
deposits or oil in this part of Texas,” remarked 
Acheson, but his eyes were still fixed upon the 
weatherbeaten, inscrutable countenance of the 
foreman, who essayed no reply and seemed indeed 
not to have heard. After a pause the other added 
impatiently with a sharper note of insistence: 
‘ 1 What is the nearest locality where a paying 
mine has been discovered or a well brought in?” 


THAT CHANLER HOMBRE 73 

“I reckon the nearest is that lead mine, the 
Jumpin’ Jupiter, but it never amounted to much, 
and there’s a lot of right pretty lookin’ wells 
up on the Ameroco lease. Got all their machin’ry 
yet, but that’s all they ever did get, ’ceptin’ some 
dry holes.” Wes shaded his eyes with his hand 
and looked off down the road from whence his 
keener ears had caught the sound of galloping 
hoofbeats. “Some of the boys from Dexter are 
a-comin’, and Bill — Briggs is roundin’ up your 
car. ’ ’ 

He started off at a run for the gates and reached 
them, just as a huge, red-bearded man on a splen- 
did bay horse swept in, followed by a smaller, 
rat-eyed individual on a wiry little pinto. They 
pulled up so suddenly at sight of Wes that their 
mounts all but slid upon their haunches and the 
big man flung himself carelessly from his saddle. 

“Howdy, Wes. Tad give you the news?” he 
rumbled in deep, hearty tones. 

“ ’Bout that Chanler hombre locatin’ Jake’s 
outfit in the hollow by Grosscup’s Pool?” The 
foreman nodded. “He says you aim to round 
’em up tonight, Matt.” 

Big Matt’s record as sheriff of the county had 
caused his name to be held in healthy respect 
throughout that section and he was formidable 
enough in appearance to strike terror to the heart 


74 


TWO-GUN SUE 


of any local “bad man,” but bis blue eyes were 
astonishingly mild and his smile boyishly candid 
despite his forty-five years. Now, however, his 
face was set in stern lines and the blue eyes 
flashed. 

“I aim to put ’em where they’d ought to have 
been long before this. Sim,” — he turned to the 
deputy sheriff who had accompanied him — “hold 
Kedcoat a minute, I want to have a word with 
Wes.” 

“Shore will, Matt.” Sim Moser dexterously 
caught the bridle which the other tossed to him 
and added with a yellow-toothed grin: “Wes, 
that there Chanler ain’t the only one that’s been 
findin’ out things. Git Matt to tell you where 
I come on him yesterday an ’ who he was with. ’ ’ 

There was a gloating, exultant note in his high, 
thin voice and the close-set eyes gleamed with 
triumph. Wes gazed at him speculatively. 

“Don’t like him, do you, Sim?” he asked. “I 
thought he was a right nice feller when I met up 
with him down to Faro Jim’s. Come on, Matt.” 

He led the sheriff to the porch of the deserted 
bunkhouse where they seated themselves on the 
steps and watched the huge car with Bill Briggs 
at the wheel and Acheson alone in the tonneau 
as it whirled off down the drive, passed Sim and 
the rearing horses at the gate by a narrow margin 


THAT CHANLER HOMBRE 75 

and disappeared on the road to Dexter in a cloud 
of dust. 

Big Matt seemed in no haste to reopen the 
conversation and at length the foreman observed : 

“I’d shore like to be ridin’ out with you tonight. 
Calc ’late Pete Ruiz will be with the rest of the 
gang or do you figger that he’s skipped?” 

“I ain’t figgerin’ that we’re bound to find any 
of ’em there. ’ ’ The sheriff drew a pipe from his 
pocket and filled and lighted it before he went on. 
“Mister Chanler don’t shoot off his mouth none 
permiscuous and he come to me alone this morn- 
in’ — I’d been out all night lookin’ for Jake and 
his outfit — and told me he’d rode to Grosscup’s 
Pool yesterday afternoon and saw a heap of 
charred stones and ashes and some empty cans, 
and cached among the rocks was some more cans 
and grub and two Mex saddles, one of ’em marked 
with a double arrow.” 

‘ ‘ J ake ’s own brand. ’ ’ Without apparent effort, 
Wes spurted a henna-colored jet of tobacco juice 
a prodigious distance and then chewed rumina- 
tively. “Did he tell you, too, ’bout Pete Ruiz’s 
dead pinto?” 

Big Matt nodded. 

“I had to pass the word on ’bout that and our 
little visit to the Pool tonight to the boys I’d 
sworn in as dep’ties, of course, and though I 


76 


TWO-GUN SUE 


warned ’em to hold their tongues, you can’t never 
tell. One of ’em might let it out accidental 
like at Faro Jim’s or the hotel and you can bet 
that Jake’s got more than one greaser spyin’ 
’round Dexter to let him savvy how the land lays ; 
that’s why I ain’t bankin’ strong on ’roundin’ 
up the outfit at the Pool.” 

“Some of his damned spies must ha’ been 
hangin’ ’round here, too, though I told the boys to 
run off any strange maverick that showed up when 
the rustlin’ first started, and I ain’t seen hide 
nor hair of a greaser on the range.” Wes’ face 
settled into still sterner lines as he spoke. “It 
got to Jake somehow that Lee was ridin’ line 
out in the east section yesterday, and there ain’t 
one of the Circle Six outfit from the Chink cook 
to the punchers that I wouldn’t trust like I would 
myself. It’s right funny that Chanler hombre 
should ha’ been the first to reckernize Pete Ruiz’s 
pinto, ain’t it?” 

“He was the first to git there, after Miss Sue,” 
the sheriff replied laconically. “He’s right 
smart and pleasant-spoken, but I’ve been studyin’ 
’bout him more’n a little, seein’ as how he didn’t 
’pear to have no object in stayin’ ’round these 
parts. Recollect that mild ole pebble-hound who 
come here a few years ago and got us all het up 
over his idee that mebbe we was settin’ over 


THAT CHANLER HOMBRE 77 

enough copper or lead to make this the richest 
county in the state ? ’ ’ 

< 4 The one who turned out to have wrecked that 
Chicago bank, and didn’t savvy no more ’bout 
minin’ than we do ’bout steamboats?” Wes 
grinned at the memory. “You cacl’late this 
Chanler hombre mought be hidin ’ out, too ? Link 
kind of s’picions that.” 

“Wal, I don’t now, not after what Sim Moser 
seen yesterday.” Big Matt’s hearty laugh rang 
out upon the still, heated air. “ He ’s got a right 
good reason for bein’ here and them rides of his’n 
ev’ry afternoon ain’t exactly to admire the view. 
He’s been usin’ Sim’s broncs, and Sim thought 
they come in mighty fresh considerin’ the time 
he has ’em out, so yesterday he moseyed along 
after and come up with Chanler on the aidge of 
the Bar D where it jines the Hundred-and-Nine, 
and Chanler wasn’t alone.” 

“Who was with him?” As he voiced the ques- 
tion a quick thought came to Wes and he glanced 
toward the ranch house, but the sheriff’s reply 
abruptly changed his mental trend. 

“A stranger who ain’t never showed up in 
Dexter; lanky feller with a p’inted beard and 
spectacles like the head lights on that car of Ache- 
son’s. He had a transit instrument with him and 
they was surveyin’.” 


78 


TWO-GUN SUE 


“Surveyin’ on the line of the Bar D and the 
Hnndred-and-Nine ! ” exclaimed Wes. ‘ ‘ Where ’d 
the hombre with the transit come from, and what 
in time are they up to 1 ’ ’ 

“Sim figgers that new railroad company that 
was projected is goin’ through at last — the T. 
and E. G. and I reckon he ain’t far wrong. ” The 
sheriff knocked the ashes from his pipe and laid 
it on the step beside him to cool. “Before they 
shove a bill through the legislature they naterally 
want to cal ’elate the route the road’ll take and 
it ’ll be done on the quiet so ’s nobody will be pre- 
pared to fight the condemnation proceedin’s. 
That’s why Chanler’s pardner keeps hisself and 
his transit out of sight and they meet out on the 
range ev’ry day. Sim rid on past and waited at 
a cross-roads until he seen Chanler lopin’ back 
to Dexter alone, and the stranger in a buckboard, 
with the transit all bundled up behind, drivin’ off 
in the other direction. Sim f offered him tiff he 
turned in at Ole Man Henshaw’s gate.” 

“If the new road goes past the Bar D there 
by the Hundred-and-Nine it’ll run halfway be- 
tween us and Dexter.” Wes spoke as if to him- 
self. “S’pose the company calc ’late the town’ll 
grow out to meet it, and figger on puttin’ up a 
deepo bye-and-bye? It’d be a big thing for 
Dexter, and for the Circle Six too.” 

“Ain’t no tellin’.” Big Matt pocketed his 


THAT CHANLER HOMRRE 


79 


pipe and rose. “Don’t see wliat good it’d do yon 
folks ont here ’ceptin’ to cnt off a few miles extry 
of hanlin’ supplies and Dexter ain’t got no reason 
to grow; nothin’ ’round here hut cow country. 
Howsomever, I didn’t come to gossip ’bout 
that Chanler hombre but to see if you and some 
of the boys don’t want to jine our posse 
tonight?” 

“The boys can go, ’ceptin’ a couple to ride the 
range, but I’ll have to stay here.” Wes shook 
his head regretfully. 4 4 Miss Sue ’s gone to Mam- 
mon City, and what with Lee hog-tied like he is 
and this Acheson party on Miss Sylvie’s hands 
I’ve got to kind of look after things.” 

“Wal, I don’t eggsactly need the boys, but if 
they want to come along for a little excitement, 
mebbe, tell ’em to meet us just outside of town 
on the road to the Pool, ’long ’bout nine; there 
ain’t goin’ to be no moon.” Big Matt chuckled 
as a sudden thought crossed his mind. “I heard 
that when the hombre who runs Acheson ’s car 
drove in to Dexter for the Doc last night he said 
Miss Sue had stuck ’em up with two guns and 
made him take her to look for Lee, leavin’ the 
ornery ole cuss and his women-folks in the road. 
I reckon I savvied what I was doin’ when I learned 
Miss Sue how to shoot. So, long, Wes; you’ll 
git the news if we round up Jake’s outfit.” 

The foreman watched Big Matt as he strode to 


80 


TWO-GUN SUE 


the gate, mounted, and followed by his deputy 
galloped off in the direction of the little town. 
Then he turned and started for the corral, his 
mind busied not so much with the projected at- 
tempt to capture the rustlers as with the revela- 
tion of Garrison Chanler ’s activities. If the road 
did go through in the direction indicated and a 
“deepo” were built so much nearer the Circle 
Six than the one in Dexter it would considerably 
increase the value of the ranch provided they 
could manage to hold on to it until the time was 
ripe. But railroads are not built nor do towns 
grow in thirty days. Wes shook his head lugu- 
briously and then paused with his hand on the 
barred gate of the corral, for a solitary figure 
on one of Sim Moser ’s scraggy little cow-ponies 
had ridden in from the road and drawn rein 
before the steps of the ranch house. The foreman 
stared as the visitor dismounted, hitched his pony 
to a post and knocked upon the door. It was 
1 ‘ that Chanler hombre” himself. 

Meantime Sylvia, after vain efforts to draw into 
conversation the bored and sulky Miss Acheson, 
had ventured into the august presence of that 
young lady’s mother with the politely expressed 
hope that she was comfortable, only to meet with 
a haughty rebuff from the nerve-shattered one. 


THAT CHANLER HOMBRE 81 

Chagrined, she wandered into her brother ’s room 
and, finding him in an obstreperous mood, vented 
her vexation in a lively argument with him regard- 
ing his diet, which was still uppermost in his 
mind. 

“I’m not going to be starved to death by a 
Chink and a kid like you, ’ 9 Lee announced wrath- 
fully. 44 You tell Wun See to bring me a thunder- 
ing big plate of beans tonight and a cup of coffee, 
or I’ll cut off that pigtail of his as sure as he’s 
alive . 9 9 

4 ‘You couldn’t even stand up and you know 
it,” retorted Sylvia with a fine disregard of the 
consolation due to the invalid. 4 4 You ’re going to 
have some milk toast ” 

“I’ll throw it at his head,” Lee interrupted. 

4 4 If you do you’ll get nothing else. I don’t 
intend to have Sue blame me if she comes home 
to find you in a fever. ’ ’ Sylvia tossed her golden 
head. 4 4 1 should think I had enough on my hands 
with the Achesons just as disagreeable as they 
can be, without you fussing about your food.” 

4 4 What are they disagreeable about?” Lee for- 
got the gnawing emptiness within him in sud- 
denly aroused curiosity. 4 4 The old man came in 
to see me this morning and he seemed to be all 
right, although I thought he was embarrassed 
over something.” 


1 


82 


TWO-GUN SUE 


“I should think he would ” Sylvia checked 

herself and added hastily: “I mean his wife and 
daughter. Mrs. Acheson is dreadfully fat and 
pretends to be sickly, but I don’t believe there 
is a thing the matter with her, and Miss Acheson 
is as snippy as though we were running some 
sort of an inn and I was away beneath her. I 
would be simply furious if it weren’t rather funny, 
and she isn’t half as pretty as I thought she was 
at first.” 

‘ ‘ Miaow ! ’ ’ Lee essayed an imitation of a yowl, 
but it ended in a groan instead. “You girls are 
all alike; just because she has snubbed you she’s 
lost her looks ! I think she might come in to cheer 
a fellow up and give me a chance to judge for 
myself! How is it that we have been honored 
with this visit, anyway, Sylvia? Sue told me that 
there had been a little accident to their car.” 

It was at this juncture that the knocking upon 
the front door reached Sylvia’s ears and she 
started from the low chair in which she had seated 
herself. 

“Somebody’s calling!” she exclaimed, and a 
little pink flush deepened in her cheeks. Dexter 
folks or those from the neighboring ranches would 
walk straight in or go around to the back door 
and she could think of only one comparative 
stranger to whom such formality would be a mere 


THAT CHANLER HOMBRE 83 

matter of course. “Wun See is getting as deaf 
as a post; I’ll have to go myself, Lee.” 

She darted through the door and along the 
gallery toward the living-room, but caught her- 
self up so suddenly as she neared its threshold 
that she tottered a step or two before regaining 
her balance. The heavy front door had opened 
and Daisy Acheson’s languid tones, quickened 
now and vibrating with something akin to warmth, 
rang out in pleased surprise. 

“ Garry! I was just wishing that you might 
come and amuse me for a bit. Really, I have 
never been so bored in my life.” 

4 4 You don’t look it, Daisy.” Unmistakably 
that was Garrison Chanler ’s voice and the unseen 
eavesdropper bit her lips. For all his courtesy 
he had invariably talked to her with an air of 
amused tolerance, never using that tone of easy 
camaraderie with which he had just now ad- 
dressed that girl from his own world. And they 
called each other by their first names. But he 
was speaking again. “I saw your father in 
Dexter and he told me I should find you here. 
How is your host, the young chap who was at- 
tacked yesterday ? I told you, I think, that I know 
him.” 

“I believe he is quite all right.” The list- 
less, indifferent note had returned to her voice 


84 


TWO-GUN SUE 


and there was a soft rustle of silk as she sank 
once more into her chair. “ Father went in to 
have a little chat with him this morning, and he 
seems to be doing as well as can be expected. 
These rugged Westerners, you know ” 

“Lee Poindexter isn’t at all the type of West- 
erner you see upon the screen — providing you 
ever honor the movies with your attendance, 
Daisy,’ * Garry interrupted drily. “Were you 
surprised when you discovered the identity of 
the — er — female road agent who held you up?” 

“I am surprised at nothing out here,” drawled 
Miss Acheson. “It was a ridiculous exhibition 
of bravado and has quite wrecked poor mother’s 
nerves. I only hope she will feel able to go on 
tomorrow for this ranch is simply unspeakable. 
I cannot understand how anything but cattle could 
exist in such a wilderness. Thank heaven, that 
girl has taken herself off to a place called Mam- 
mon City, but there is a younger sister, a most 
absurd child. She actually tried this morning to 
imitate the way I do my hair and she bores me 
to extinction with her insatiable curiosity about 
the East. Have you ever seen her?” 

But Sylvia did not wait to hear Garrison 
Chanler’s reply. Blinded by stinging tears of 
humiliation she stumbled off to her room and 
flung herself face downward across the bed, 


THAT CHANLER HOMBRE 


85 


stifling her sobs in the pillows. So Daisy Ache- 
son considered her “absurd” and the Circle Six 
“unspeakable.” She was the hostess in Sue’s 
place and she must be civil to that horrid girl 
until the party left, but never, never would she 
speak to Garrison Chanler again. To think that 
anyone could be so mean as to ridicule her effort 
to dress her hair properly, and to tell him , of all 
people. 

Anger dried her tears and sitting up suddenly 
Sylvia attacked the offending coiffure with trem- 
bling Angers, but as the golden curls rippled down 
about her shoulders she relaxed and fell to mus- 
ing, and gradually a little smile dawned on her 
lips. 

Daisy Acheson considered her a child, did she ? 
Unsophisticated and uncouth, perhaps, and quite 
beneath her notice ? Well, she would see. There 
had been a note of proprietorship in her voice 
when she addressed Garrison Chanler which 
would have been self-evident to any other mem- 
ber of her own sex. Not speak to him again? 
Ah, but Sylvia would. Was it for nothing that 
practically every bachelor around Dexter was at 
her feet? She could just as easily bring this 
Easterner there, — this man the other girl consid- 
ered to be her exclusive property, — and she would. 
When she had twisted him about her little Anger, 


86 


TWO-GUN SUE 


subjugated him as she had the shyest, most awk- 
ward cow-puncher on the range, then Daisy 
Acheson might have him back again if she liked. 
Sylvia’s small fists clenched and her eyes hard- 
ened and brightened with resolve; for that mo- 
ment of humiliation they should pay. 


CHAPTER VI 


ACHESON MAKES AN OFFER 

H ALF an hour later Sylvia paused before her 
brother’s door and then, without knocking, 
she turned the knob and entered, only to hesitate 
in seeming confusion, although she had plainly 
heard the two youthful, masculine voices from 
without. Her face was serene, with no trace of 
recent tears, and her hair was arranged in its 
usual loose knot of curls. 

“Mr. Chanler! I didn’t know that you were 
here. I should have knocked, Lee; I’m 
sorry ” 

“What’s the big idea?” Lee’s eyes opened 
wide at this unprecedented evidence of considera- 
tion. “Mr. Chanler just dropped in to see how 
I was getting along. Sit down, Sylvia.” 

“I came to see you, too, Miss Poindexter, and 
to pay my respects to your guests.” Garry 
smiled as he offered her a chair and she smiled 
back dazzlingly upon him. “Did you know that 
they were old acquaintances of mine? Miss 
Aeheson and I practically grew up together.” 

87 


88 


TWO-GUN SUE 


“How nice! I have done my best to entertain 
her in the absence of my sister, but naturally she 
can only talk about the East and as I’ve never 
been there I am afraid we have bored each other 
dreadfully. ’ ’ Sylvia’s smile rippled into a little 
laugh as she seated herself, but she carefully 
avoided her brother’s eyes. “Perhaps you can 
persuade her to go for a ride with you. I offered 
Bobbie Burns to her this morning, but she shud- 
dered and said he had a wicked head. Poor, old 
Bobbie. I rode him when I was six.” 

“Miss Acheson isn’t accustomed to Western 
horses and I fancy she has an exaggerated idea 
of rough-riding in general. ” Garry laughed, too, 
but there was a defensive note in his tone and 
Sylvia was quick to realize her tactical error. 
“She tells me that they are bringing their visit 
to a close tomorrow, anyway.” 

“And incidentally I have learned how this visit 
came about,” Lee grinned. “No wonder you and 
Sue kept it dark. Two sisters like you would be 
the death of any fellow. I should like to have 
met Miss Acheson and her mother, but I can only 
hope that they will pay us a return visit on their 
way back across the continent.” 

He had turned and spoken to Garry, but before 
the latter could reply Sylvia observed mischiev- 
ously : 


ACHESON MAKES AN OFFER 89 


1 ‘ That ’s because I told you how terribly pretty 
Miss Acheson was. And I think what Sue did 
yesterday was simply outrageous. It is her fault, 
not mine, if Mr. Chanler’s friends consider us 
barbarians. ’ ’ 

“I am sure no one could do that!” Garry pro- 
tested. “Your sister showed real presence of 
mind in a drastic emergency and I should like an 
opportunity to congratulate her. I hope she 
returns before I leave Dexter.” 

Sue, again! Sylvia could have stamped her 
foot with vexation but instead, still smiling 
sweetly, she allowed a gentle tinge of regret to 
creep into her tones. 

“You are going back East in a few days, aren’t 
you? Now that poor Lee is unable to take me 
to the Triangle Four on Saturday night we shan’t 
have that last dance together, after all.” 

“That was another of my several motives in 
riding over this afternoon; to offer myself as a 
substitute.” Garry turned to Lee. “I find that 
I must return to New York even earlier than I 
had anticipated; in fact I start on Monday, so 
the dance Saturday will be our last opportunity 
to practice some new steps I have been teaching 
your sister. I should be delighted to drive over 
for her ?” 

“I’d be mighty glad if you would!” Lee 


90 


TWO-GUN SUE 


responded heartily. “Sylvia’s crazy about danc- 
ing and I should never hear the last of it if she 
couldn’t go to the Triangle Four. Ride over 
early and have supper with the girls, and then 
you can take our buckboard to drive Sylvia to 
the dance.” 

“That will be splendid!” Sylvia exclaimed. 
Then, lest her tone had conveyed too much, she 
added hastily: “I’m not quite sure of those new 
steps yet and I want to teach them to Lee as soon 
as he is well so that I shall have someone to dance 
with. You will be sure to come early? I will 
tell Wun See to give us something especially 
nice.” 

“And you’ll tell him to give me some of it or 
you don’t go to the dance,” Lee threatened darkly. 
“Not leaving us, Mr. Chanler?” 

Garry had risen and he nodded as he held out 
his hand. 

“Sorry, but I must. Don’t you think you have 
talked enough for now, anyway? Thanks for 
asking me to supper on Saturday, I’ll look in on 
you for awhile then. Perhaps ?” he hesi- 

tated. “Perhaps your older sister would like to 
go to the dance also?” 

“Oh, no. She doesn’t care for that sort of 
thing,” replied Lee carelessly as he eased himself 


1CHES0N MAKES AN OFFER 91 

back upon his pillows. 1 ‘ Sylvia is the only butter- 
fly of the family. Till Saturday, then.” 

Garry took his leave and Sylvia accompanied 
him to the door, but, if she had hoped for a petty 
triumph over Miss Acheson, she was doomed to 
disappointment, for the living-room was empty 
and Dacon Acheson himself descended from his 
car as they emerged upon the porch. 

To Sylvia’s vexation he suavely but determin- 
edly took possession of Garry and walked beside 
the latter’s pony to the gate where he stopped 
and watched the departure of the visitor with a 
cynically speculative gleam in his eyes. 

Garry’s thoughts were at the same moment on 
him. This family tour must be a blind ; a motor 
trip was as much of a novelty to Daisy as a ride 
in the subway would be to the average city work- 
ing-girl, and it could be nothing but sheer torture 
to Mrs. Acheson ’s ease-loving soul. What motive 
had brought the old fox so far from his lair? 

He might have gained more than an inkling 
of the truth, had he been within earshot during 
a conversation which took place the following 
morning between the financier and his young host. 
Despite the enforced diet Lee had passed a rest- 
less night and it was with small inward pleasure 
that he greeted Acheson when he knocked upon 


92 


TWO-GUN SUE 


his door ; but if the latter was aware of any effort 
in the invalid’s manner he ignored it. 

‘ ‘ Good morning, my boy. ’ ’ The note of solici- 
tude in his tone was almost paternal and Lee 
mentally writhed. “Hope you feel stronger to- 
day, strong enough for a little business talk.” 

“Thank you, Mr. Acheson, I’m doing well 
enough, I guess, but this confounded leg of mine 
is commencing to wake up and resent the treat- 
ment it has had. ” Lee with difficulty pulled him- 
self up in bed and eyed his visitor inquiringly. 
“You spoke of business? I don’t ” 

“Of course you don’t understand what I mean 
but you will in a minute,” the other interrupted 
and seated himself, chuckling drily. “Down in 
the Street — Wall Street, you know, — they call me 
‘ Dynamo’ Acheson and I think I’ve earned the 
sobriquet. When I want anything, whether it’s 
the scalp of a financial rival or a golf cup, I go 
out and get it, and nothing stands in my path. 
I’m not boasting, my boy, and I don’t as a rule 
talk about myself, but I want you thoroughly to 
comprehend that however abrupt my proposition 
may appear to you, I mean business. I under- 
stand that you and your two sisters are the joint 
owners of the Circle Six. I’ve been looking it 
over and I have taken a fancy to it ; it is just the 


ACHESON MAKES AN OFFER 93 

sort of open-air hobby in which a man who lives 
at high tension most of the year could find relaxa- 
tion, with sufficient element of competition and 
risk in the cattle game to lend it interest. Your 
younger sister tells me that you have thought of 
selling out here and for her part she is more than 
willing to dispose of her share. Name your 
price.” 

Unmindful of the sharp stab of pain which shot 
upward from his wounded knee Lee raised him- 
self and looked steadily into the small, close-set 
eyes of his guest. 

“You must have misunderstood my sister, Mr. 
Acheson, ’ 9 he said slowly. ‘ ‘ She personally may 
wish to sell in order to gratify her desire for 
travel and social fife, but she is still only a child 
and by the terms of our father’s will her share 
in the property is in trust and not at her disposal 
for another three years. I am in a position to 
speak for my older sister and as far as she and 
I are concerned the Circle Six has no price.” 

Acheson ’s thin-lipped smile did not change and 
he nodded briskly as though he had anticipated 
and discounted the young man’s reply. 

“I understand the — er — sentimental motive 
which impels you to hold on to the ranch as long 
as you can, and it does you credit, but one of the 


94 


TWO-GUN SUE 


principal attributes to success is the ability to 
know when you are in a losing game and get out 
from under. ’ ’ 

1 ‘ Just what do you mean?” Lee’s brown eyes 
had turned almost black. 

* * My boy, when I decide to buy anything, from 
a block of stock to a ranch, I naturally inform 
myself about it at the earliest possible moment. 
You must pardon me for mentioning it, but I have 
learned that you are in financial difficulties and 
that the Circle Six may, willy-nilly, pass out of 
your hands at a not far distant date. Why wait 
for the inevitable which will leave you and your 
sisters at best with but a mere pittance, when 
you might with one stroke profit more than you 
could hope to in the next five years here, provid- 
ing it were possible for you to retain your title 
to the ranch for that period?” 

“My reason and that of my sister Susanna for 
declining to sell is irrelevant to this discussion.” 
Lee’s face whitened beneath its tan. “If we are 
in any financial difficulty, that too is solely our 
affair. The Circle Six will not pass out of our 
hands while we have a single resource left.” 

“But is that fair to your sisters?” Acheson 
bent forward in his chair. “Have you and your 
older sister the right to condemn the younger to 
poverty instead of comparative affluence in the 


ACHESON MAKES AN OFFER 95 


future for any reason, sentimental or otherwise? 
Women are controlled to a large extent by their 
emotions no matter how practical they may ap- 
pear, but you are a man and in justice to them 
you must try to look at my proposition from a 
sensible, worldly standpoint. I made some in- 
quiries of other ranch owners in the neighborhood 
of Dexter yesterday afternoon and I know ap- 
proximately what the Circle Six is worth. Per- 
haps one of your reasons for declining to name 
a price is your realization that unless you ob- 
tained more than its actual value you and your 
sisters would have little left when your debts 
were liquidated V 9 

“I repeat, Mr. Acheson, my reasons are my 
own, ’ 9 Lee interrupted in his turn. 4 4 It is useless 
to continue this discussion; the Circle Six is not 
for sale.” 

“You are banking on the chimera of hope that 
some miracle may enable you to hold on to the 
ranch until the tide turns, but you must open your 
eyes to the plain facts. That is why I am so 
brutally frank, my boy; I am speaking for your 
sake and that of your sisters ’ as well as for my 
own — er — whim.” There was added force in 
Acheson ’s tone. “When I buy anything with the 
idea of profit it is needless to say that I do not 
pay a cent more for it than I must, certainly not 


96 


TWO-GUN SUE 


more than its market value, but when I am in- 
dulging a personal fancy or desire — call it any- 
thing you like — I am prepared to pay for my fun. 
I know you are in pain and I will not prolong 
this interview, but I want to place a proposition 
before you. Briefly, as a starting-point, let us 
say that this ranch of yours — land, buildings, 
livestock and all — is worth in the neighborhood 
of a hundred thousand dollars. At a forced sale 
you would not realize more than three-quarters 
of that; if you ask them, your bankers or your 
attorney will verify my statement. Perhaps 
there may be outstanding notes aggregating fifty 
thousand dollars long past due against the 
estate ” 

“How do you know all this?” Lee exclaimed. 

“I made it my business to find out; you can 
understand now the reason for my nickname on 
the Exchange.” Acheson laid a claw-like hand 
upon the arm of his youthful host. “I’ll give 
you a hundred and twenty-five thousand outright 
for the Circle Six. That means twenty-five 
thousand net capital left for each of you instead 
of that sum divided between you three. Remem- 
ber I am offering two-thirds more than the amount 
the place would bring at a forced sale and a 
quarter more than it is worth, more than anyone 
else will ever offer for it. You will have to con- 


ACHESON MAKES AN OFFER 97 

suit your older sister, of course, but in all disin- 
terestedness let me urge that you do not refuse 
too hastily. ’ ’ 

Lee’s pale face flushed and he pulled impa- 
tiently at the loosened bandage on his forehead 
as he drew himself up once more, but before he 
could utter the retort which rose to his lips the 
door burst open and Sylvia entered like a whirl- 
wind. 

“Lee! Oh, Lee! I couldn’t help hearing. 
Isn’t it simply too wonderful! Sue has just got 
to agree 99 

“Sue has not ‘got’ to agree, nor have I.” He 
spoke in a tone which the girl scarcely recognized. 
“You have no voice in this matter, Sylvia; it is 
for us to decide with Mr. Hartwell.” 

“I won’t stand it.” She stamped her foot and 
her blue eyes glinted like steel. “That old fossil 
in Mammon City isn’t going to tie me down in 
this — this unspeakable wilderness for the rest of 
my life. Father must have been crazy to make 
him my trustee .” 

“Sylvia!” Lee thundered, but Acheson, rising, 
intervened. 

“I am sorry to have precipitated this argu- 
ment, but I hope, Miss Sylvia, that you will be 
able to persuade your brother, and your sister, 
too, when she returns, to look upon my offer as 


98 


TWO-GUN SUE 


favorably and sensibly as you do. Think it over, 
my dear fellow, there is no immediate haste. I'll 
see you again before we go on tomorrow, of 
course, and leave with you my office and home 
address in New York. I shall only ask that you 
will let me know your final decision within a 
reasonable length of time.” 

Lee shook his head. 

“I have already given you my final decision, 
Mr. Acheson, ’ 9 he said wearily, and lay back upon 
his pillows. “I have spoken for my older sister, 
and I think I know our attorney’s views, as trus- 
tee for my younger one. We shall not sell.” 

“Mr. Acheson, don’t listen to him!” Sylvia 
cried. “He can speak for himself, but he’ll find 
that I can, too.” 

“I will leave you to talk it over, my dear.” 
Acheson paused in the doorway, concealing the 
smile which hovered about his lips. “My offer 
will stand open for at least thirty days.” 

When the door had closed behind him Sylvia 
turned upon her brother, but was arrested by 
his look of stern displeasure. 

“Never again dare to speak of father as you 
did just now. He was right to leave your affairs 
in Uncle Dave Hartwell’s hands.” He paused 
and added: “You’re my sister, but I’m darned 


ACHESON MAKES AN OFFER 99 

if it doesn’t seem sometimes as though I hardly 
knew you. The Circle Six may be dreary and 
lonesome to you, but to Sue and me it is a sacred 
trust, and carries with it a moral obligation to 
stay, pay off our debts and carry on the work that 
father began. Why can’t you see it as we do?” 

“ Because I’ve never been anywhere or had 
anything,” Sylvia burst out. “Sue went to the 
city to school and you to college, but what about 
me? I don’t see any ‘ sacred trust’ about it just 
because father couldn’t make a success of the 
ranch. If we sell out to Mr. Acheson the debts 
can be paid and we will each have enough money 
to do as we please. You know we are getting 
poorer and poorer all the time and sooner or later 
the Circle Six will have to go, and then we ’ll have 
next to nothing. Oh, I ’m sick of it here. I wish 
I were dead.” 

She buried her face in her hands and began 
to sob hysterically, and Lee tossed uncomfortably 
on his bed. He had the usual masculine aversion 
to tears, coupled with an abysmal ignorance of 
femininity in general and he wished fervently 
that Susanna had been at home. It was useless 
for him to talk to Sylvia for he could never make 
her understand, and from her point of view there 
was a certain amount of justice in her plea. The 


100 


TWO-GUN SUE 


poor little thing had never been off the range and 
it was only natural she should hunger for the 
advantages that other girls had. 

In sudden gentleness he stretched out his hand 
toward her. 

“Look here, Sylvia. We’re not getting poorer, 
and we’re not going to fail. Before you’re 
twenty-one you’ll have a bigger income from the 
ranch than the interest on the twenty-five thou- 
sand dollars which would be yours if we accepted 
Mr. Acheson’s offer. You’ll see. Sue and I 
don’t mean to tie you down here, honey. Just 
as soon as we’ve got things going on a profitable 
basis and paid off those notes you’ll have every- 
thing that you feel you are missing now.” 

“When I am t — toothless and crippled with 
rheumatism, I suppose. ’ ’ She dried her eyes on 
a wisp of a handkerchief, but her tone was not 
so scornful as the words implied. “I don’t think 
it’s fair, Lee. I want to travel and know people 
like the Achesons and — and Mr. Chanler, and 
have good times and pretty things now. We 
aren’t any better off than we were last year, and 
it will only be worse if we go on. Now that 
there’s more trouble ” 

“ ‘More trouble ? ’ ” he interrupted sharply. 
“What do you mean?” 


ACHESON MAKES AN OFFER 101 


“Oh, I — I don’t know, of course, for Sue always 
puts me off, and she told me not to worry you 
with it.” Sylvia hesitated, her eyes downcast, 
and then suddenly plunged. ‘ ‘ Sue acts as though 
the ranch were hers alone and we hadn’t any 
right to know what is going on, but she tells Wes 
everything. She said yesterday that she only 
had to go to Mammon City to sign some papers 
over again that hadn’t been properly drawn up 
before, but she talked to Wes a long time after- 
ward, and he’s been as glum as an Indian ever 
since. I ’m positive it ’s something more than just 
signing papers, and we can’t skimp any closer 
than we are doing; I’ve worn that same white 
dress to every dance till I’m ashamed to be seen 
in it and Sue never has anything new, either. 
If we’ve got to live this way for years to come 
it doesn’t seem worth while going on.” 

“It won’t be for long, if you’ll just have a little 
more patience, Sylvia.” Lee’s tone was faint 
and his face drawn with pain. “Even if we were 
all three willing to sell the Circle Six it wouldn’t 
do to accept the first offer that came our way 
and from a stranger, too.” 

“I don’t see why not,” the girl cried eagerly. 
“It’s a wonderfully generous offer, I think.” 

“Too generous.” Decision lent strength to 


102 


TWO-GUN SUE 


her brother’s tones. “Go find Wes and tell him 
I want to speak to him, will you? Ask him to 
come right away.” 

“Ye — es.” Sylvia moved with obvious reluc- 
tance toward the door. “You won’t let him know 
that I said anything about his talk with Sue yes- 
terday?” 

“Of course not.” Lee braced himself on one 
arm and punched his pillows into shape. “Sue 
doesn’t lie, and if she told you she only had to 
sign some more papers you are worrying yourself 
for nothing. Go on like a good girl, and find 
Wes.” 

It was a full twenty minutes, however, before 
the foreman put in an appearance and during 
the interval the invalid lay with closed eyes and 
brow furrowed beneath the bandage, going over 
in his mind every detail of the conversation with 
Acheson. There was something back of that 
amazing offer which he did not understand, but 
one fact stood out clearly; the astute Wall Street 
financier wanted the Circle Six for some greater 
reason than the mere indulgence of a new hobby. 
What could his motive be ? 

Wes’ heavy step sounded at length in the gal- 
lery and Lee pulled himself up once more and 
waited eagerly until the ungainly figure appeared 
on the threshold. 


ACHESON MAKES AN OFFER 103 

“ Hello, Wes. Come in and shut the door, I 
want to tell you something.” 

“So Miss Sylvie said,” Wes observed as he 
obeyed, adding with tactless candor: “You look 
mighty bad, Lee, and the little gal’s been crying 
you two had an argument ! ’ ’ 

“Call it a difference of opinion.” Lee 
shrugged. “Where is everybody! The Ache^ 
sons, I mean.” 

“He’s gone out in his car and I ain’t seen hide 
nor hair of the old lady since she ’lighted here 
night before last, but the young one ’pears to 
have taken a shine to Miss Sylvie all of a sudden ; 
come up and put her arm ’round her just now 
on the back porch, and the little gal looked like 
she was struck dead. She took her off some- 
where ’s for a talk.” 

“Father’s instructions. I thought as much.” 
Lee nodded. “Wes, if you wanted something to 
amuse yourself with and take your mind off your 
work, and you knew you could get it for a dollar 
or perhaps even seventy-five cents, would you 
offer a dollar and a quarter for it! ” 

“Say, you ain’t in a fever, are you, Lee!” Wes 
advanced to the bed. “I ain’t aimin’ to amuse 
myself none, nor have my mind took offen the 
ranch, and I wasn’t never loco enough to throw 
four bits away.” 


104 


TWO-GUN SUE 


“Do you think Acheson is?” Lee asked slowly, 
watching the other’s face. “Do you think he’s 
the sort of man to give away not four bits but 
twenty-five or perhaps fifty thousand dollars?” 

“He wouldn’t give away nothin’ less’n it was 
catchin’ and he couldn’t help hisself,” Wes 
responded with conviction. “What’s on your 
mind, son?” 

He eased himself carefully into the chair which 
the financier had lately occupied and sat rim- 
ming his hat between his gnarled fingers while 
he listened absorbedly to Lee’s account of Ache- 
son’s amazing proposition. When it was con- 
cluded he threw back his head and guffawed. 

“Don’t that beat hell?” he demanded when he 
could speak. “Do you know what that fool hom- 
bre’s aimin’ to do, Lee? He figgers on pannin’ 
gold instead of stealin’ it like he’s been doin’ from 
the pore suckers in that there Wall Street game. 
Link found him prospectin’ ’round for it yes- 
terd’y. What answer did you give him?” 

“What do you suppose?” Lee retorted. “I 
told him that the Circle Six wasn’t for sale at 
any price, but Sylvia heard and there was the 
dickens to pay.” 

“Little gal’s got hifalutin’ idees ’bout goin’ 
East.” Wes nodded slowly. “That daughter of 
Acheson ’s ain’t goin’ to be good medicine for 


ACHESON MAKES AN OFFER 105 

her, either, puttin’ notions in her head. I fig- 
gered them folks was moseyin’ on today.” 

1 1 Mrs. Acheson hasn’t recovered enough from 
that scare which Sue gave her.” Lee grinned 
faintly. “The girls tried to keep it from me, but 
Chanler let it out yesterday when he called. That 
must have been some hold-up. ’ ’ 

“Reckon it was.” Wes chuckled and then his 
face sobered. “You got the message I give Wun 
See for you this mornin’?” 

“That Big Matt didn’t find anything at Gross- 
cup’s Pool last night but the remains of a fire 
and some empty cans?” Lee replied. “Maybe 
we’ve seen the last of Jake and his outfit around 
here.” 

“I don’t guess so. Jake’s no quitter.” The 
foreman rose. “Somebody passed the word on to 
him that it wouldn’t be healthy for him to hide 
out there any more, and I aim to find out who 
that somebody is. How’d this Acheson hombre 
find out so all-fired much ’bout the Circle Six? 
Them notes and all?” 

“I don’t know.” Lee shrugged again. “Of 
course, there wasn’t any secret about it; every- 
one in Dexter knew that father borrowed the 
money and sunk it in the ranch.” 

“Dexter folks nor no other cattle-town bunch 
don ’t shoot off their mouths ’bout their neighbors 


106 


TWO-GUN SUE 


to strangers from the East; not as a gen’ral 
thing !” Wes retorted. “If Ole Man Acheson 
comes ’round askin , me any more questions like 
he did yesterd’y Pm shore goin’ to discourage 
him outen that idee of his’n that there’s pay dirt 
in these parts or we ’ll have him and his women- 
folks stayin’ on indefinite.” 

“I think you and Link are wrong about that 
idea of gold, Wes,” Lee remarked. “Whatever 
else he is, Acheson is no fool, and he wouldn’t 
offer a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars 
for a cattle ranch on its last legs just because 
he thought there might be gold here. Anyone 
can tell him that we’ve got about every mineral 
except gold in the State, but there are no mines 
down in this part. He’s got something else on 
his mind, you can depend on that.” 

“Wal, there’s one p’int clear enough.” Wes 
hitched up his trousers. “If that ornery ole 
coyote is willin’ to pay such a price for the Circle 
Six, he opines for some reason that it’s goin’ 
to be worth twice as much. We ain’t on our last 
legs, not by a damn sight, and I figger we can 
hang on a while longer; long enough anyways 
to find out why we’ve riz twenty-five thousand 
overnight!” 


CHAPTER VII 


MOONLIGHT AND MISCHIEF 

HE Achesons departed at noon the next day 



^ and after the big car had vanished in a 
swirling screen of dust down the road which led 
to Mammon City, Sylvia knocked upon her 
brother’s door. 

4 4 Come in, ’ ’ he called. 4 4 Have they gone ! 9 9 

4 4 Yes.” Sylvia shut the door behind her and 
sank down with a little sigh beside the bed. 
4 4 Everything seems just dead without them, 
doesn’t it!” 

44 I haven’t noticed it,” Lee replied drily. 44 I 
suppose you’ve fallen for that Acheson girl’s flat- 
tery !” 

44 1 did nothing of the sort, and she never tried 
to flatter me!” retorted Sylvia. 4 4 Daisy was ab- 
solutely frank!” 

4 4 4 Daisy!’ ” Lee raised his eye-brows as far 
as the bandage would permit. 

4 4 She told me to call her that!” Sylvia bridled. 
4 4 She said she thought I was just a silly child at 
first ” 


107 


108 


TWO-GUN SUE 


4 ‘She’s a good guesser!” 

‘ ‘ I think yon ’re horrid, Lee ! She thought that 
because she heard Sue bossing me around the 
night they came, and I allowed her to do it ! Daisy 
says I ought to assert myself more; that the 
youngest in a family is never appreciated unless 
she does. It wasn’t until — until Mr. Chanler said 
some nice things about me to her that she felt 
any interest in me.” 

1 4 What sort of ‘nice things’?” Lee demanded. 

‘ ‘ Oh, I don ’t know ! ’ ’ Sylvia blushed and went 
on hurriedly: “Naturally they were prejudiced 
against Sue for frightening them so unnecessarily 
instead of explaining; Mrs. Acheson has a weak 
heart if she is fa — stout, but she was awfully nice 
to me this morning. She invited me to visit them 
when I go to New York and Daisy promised me 
the most wonderful time ! ’ ’ 

“Good team work!” Lee growled. “Are you 
such a little idiot that you can’t see Acheson put 
them up to it? He wants the ranch and you are 
the only one of us who is willing to sell.” 

“That’s not so!’ Sylvia tossed her head. 
“You may think I am an idiot but other people 
understand me! — Daisy said quite honestly that 
although we had been so kind and hospitable 
neither she nor her mother could endure ranch life 
for long, it would be too hideously lonely. I don’t 


MOONLIGHT AND MISCHIEF 109 


blame tliem! Her father is just crazy about it, 
though, and the Circle Six is the finest place he ’s 
seen! Did he give you his office address! The 
house number is on the card Daisy gave me ; she 
is going to write and tell me all about the splen- 
did times she will have.” 

4 ‘ Look here, Sylvia, the quicker you get these 
people out of your head the better ! ’ ’ Lee winced 
at the unconscious envy which had manifested it- 
self in his sister’s tones. “ We’ve got a hard 
struggle before us yet and if we are to win out 
you must do your share by being as cheerful and 
patient as you can. The Achesons will have for- 
gotten that you ever existed by the time it will 
be possible for you to go to New York and they’ll 
drop you anyway like a hot potato when they find 
they can’t use you to get possession of the Circle 
Six.” 

“I don’t see why you are so set against them, 
Lee.” Sylvia sighed. “Of course they were 
unwilling at first to lend their car to Sue, but that 
was only because they didn’t understand ” 

“That did not prejudice me; Sue took the sit- 
uation in hand, all right. I merely object, on the 
grounds of principle, to people who would use our 
hospitality as a means to further their own ends ; 
who eat our bread and try to take advantage of 
us in a bargain.” 


110 


TWO-GUN SUE 


“ ‘Advantage!’ ” repeated Sylvia. “Why, you 
know that Mr. Acheson offered us more for the 
ranch than anyone else ever will!” 

“Iam not so sure of that,” Lee replied slowly. 
“But it isn’t a matter of business with him. 
He told you that!” Sylvia protested. “He only 
wants the ranch to amuse himself with when he 
needs a vacation. How can you say he is trying 
to take advantage of us V ’ 

“Just because he offered more than the ranch 
is actually worth — as far as we know.” Her 
brother added the last words with significant em- 
phasis and Sylvia stared at him round-eyed. 

“Oh, Lee!” she breathed. “You don’t mean 
that the Circle Six may actually be worth more! 
But how !” 

“That is what I’m going to find out as soon 
as I can get about again,” he announced firmly. 
* 1 To-night when Chanler comes to supper I ’ll have 
a little talk with him about Acheson. Perhaps I 
may be able to get an inkling as to what is back 
of his amazingly generous offer. I shan’t men- 
tion that to Chanler, of course, and mind that you 
do not when you go to the dance ! ’ ’ 

1 4 The very idea ! ’ ’ Sylvia looked injured. ‘ ‘ As 
if I would! — Goodness I’d almost forgotten about 
the dance! I’ll have to go and do up that old 
white dress again. I don’t believe Mr. Acheson 


MOONLIGHT AND MISCHIEF 111 


had any other reason for wanting the ranch than 
the one he gave, and it is silly of you to suspect 
him. Haven’t we read of rich men spending for* 
tunes on just a hobby?” 

“Not men of Acheson’s type, Sylvia.” Lee 
shook his head. “Chanler may not be willing to 
discuss him if they are friends and possible asso- 
ciates in business, but I can find out what his 
attitude is, anyway. Don’t close the door behind 
you ; Doc Rankin ought to be here any time now. ’ ’ 

When Garry Chanler appeared at sunset and 
made his way to the invalid’s room, however, he 
was quite ready to discuss Acheson, and his atti- 
tude toward the latter was unmistakably revealed 
in his reply to Lee ’s first tentative question. 

“Yes, I suppose the old boy is considered a 
power, of a sort, on the market. He has added a 
few millions to the small fortune his father left 
him, but his methods, while strictly within the law, 
have been pretty close to the line now and then. 
The chaps I — I trade with on the Street don’t play 
that way, and the more conservative element 
haven’t any use for him. His operations aren’t 
flagrant enough to affect the family’s social posi- 
tion, of course, and his daughter is quite ‘a leader 
of the younger set.’ ” 

“So I gathered from Sylvia,” Lee rejoined. 
“What does he trade in, mostly?” 


112 


TWO-GUN SUE 


“Easiest graft on the Street — mines.” Garry 
passed his cigarette case to his host and held a 
match for him. ‘ ‘ I don ’t mean any fake stuff, he ’s 
too clever for that, but he controls more than one 
dummy concern and any new mining stock that is 
floated and looks good to him he jockeys about 
among these different companies until he’s ready 
to let the suckers in and make a killing. If you 
have never dabbled yourself you wouldn’t under- 
stand, but it takes a very shrewd man to play that 
game and get away with it. ’ ’ 

“He must be a good guesser, too,” Lee 
remarked, settling back contentedly as the smoke 
rings drifted toward the ceiling. “When I was in 
college at Fort Worth I heard a lot about com- 
panies that were organized to foist worthless 
stock on the Eastern market. Does Acheson know 
anything about mines, himself?” 

“Enough to read and comprehend the reports 
of his experts, I fancy!” Garry lighted his own 
cigarette. “More than a few of the biggest oper- 
ators in mining stock have to depend blindly on 
the opinions of their geologists, but he studied it 
himself years ago, though I never heard of his 
having actually gone out into the field. If I had 
encountered him a little further north I confess 
I should have suspected some ulterior motive back 


MOONLIGHT AND MISCHIEF 113 

of this pleasure tour; as it is he is far from the 
beaten path of the trans-continental motorist but 
he has a reputation for doing the unexpected. ’ ’ 

“In the few talks I had with him, Acheson 
didn’t strike me as the sort of man to enjoy such 
a leisurely trip.” With a fine masculine disre- 
gard Lee flipped the ashes over the side of his 
bed. “He seems to be at high tension — high 
speed — all the time.” 

“That’s Dacon Acheson.” Garry laughed. 
“They call him ‘Dynamo’ on the Exchange.” 

“So he informed me, and I think he’s privately 
rather proud of it.” Lee nodded. “Naturally I 
don’t know him as you do, but I should think a 
flying express would suit him better than a motor 
car. Perhaps his family persuaded him to take 
this trip ?” 

“Not they! If I know them, they’re bored to 
death! Did he give you any hint of business 
bringing him out here ? ’ ’ 

Lee eyed his visitor keenly at the seemingly 
careless question, but Garry’s expression be- 
trayed only amused interest. 

“He wouldn’t have been likely to. I know as 
much about the stock market as he does about cat- 
tle-raising and we hadn ’t a point of contact, ’ ’ Lee 
temporized. “He didn’t even mention how far 


114 


TWO-GUN SUE 


west they were going but I don’t think they intend 
to make the Coast, for I gathered that he expects 
to be back in New York in about a month.” 

“ Possibly they have planned to ship the car 
home and return by rail.” Garry shrugged, as 
though brushing aside the subject. “I’ll be home 
myself the latter part of next week and New York 
won’t look a bit good to me in the dog days, I can 
tell you ! It ’s a great life out here ; I ’d like to buy 
a ranch myself and settle down, but I suppose we 
must each of us play our cards as they lie.” 

Chanler, too ! What possessed these Easterners 
that they should suddenly go loco over the charms 
of the cow country? Lee stared, but before he 
could comment on the other’s observation, a light 
tapping sounded upon the door and Sylvia pre- 
sented herself. The despised white dress fell in 
soft folds about her slender figure and the lamp 
which she carried gleamed upon her golden hair, 
turning it into a nimbus of radiance. 

Garry unconsciously caught his breath. Lord, 
what a little beauty the child was ! What a sen- 
sation she would create later in the drawing-rooms 
of the East if she might realize her heart’s 
desire! His admiration of the picture she made 
was detached, almost impersonal, but something of 
it must have shown in his face, for she turned her 
head quickly from the rays of the lamp, but not 


MOONLIGHT AND MISCHIEF 115 


before he had seen the warm, rosy blush which 
swept up into her cheeks. 

“Whew ! ’ ’ Lee whistled in brotherly approval. 
“We’ve gotten ourselves up regardless to-night, 
haven’t we?” 

“Don’t be silly!” Sylvia placed the lamp on 
the table and held out her hand with a little smile 
to Garry. “Your friends left this morning and 
my sister has not yet returned from Mammon 
City so we shall be all alone for supper; I hope 
you won’t be bored to death, Mr. Chanler.” 

‘ ‘ The prospect does not hold any presentments 
for me on that score !” He smiled also as he took 
the little hand for a moment and then released it. 
“It is splendid to find — and leave — your brother 
so much improved. If you don’t take care you 
will find him up and hopping about even before I 
arrive in New York.” 

“You are really going, then, on Monday ? ’ ’ The 
lilt was gone from Sylvia ’s voice. 

“Yes, and to-night must be ‘good-by’ for a time 
at least. I find that I will not be able to ride over 
to-morrow as I had hoped, to make my final adieux 
then. We’ll make the best of our dance this even- 
ing, Miss Poindexter.” He turned once more to 
the bed. “My dear fellow, I hope you’ll look me 
up when you come to New York, and this isn’t a 
mere perfunctory request, either. I’ve a ten-year 


116 


TWO-GUN SUE 


lease on my rooms at the Blandf ord and if I should 
happen to be fooling about at some house-party or 
country club a note will always be forwarded to 
me from there. I shall look forward to a reunion 
with you and your sister, and to meeting Miss 
Susanna, too, if she comes.’ ’ 

“ Thanks, old man!” Lee shook hands heart- 
ily. “I am afraid we will all three be pretty well 
tied down to the Circle Six for a few years to 
come, but if you should decide to take another trip 
out here, remember that the gates of the ranch 
are never closed.” 

Wun See had outdone himself in the prepara- 
tion of supper and Sylvia presided with con- 
scious dignity over the small round table which she 
caused to be substituted for the family board. 
Garry watched her amusedly, an irrepressible 
memory of a dolPs tea-party in which some small 
cousins of his had indulged arousing involuntary 
comparison. But if she were a child she was a very 
lovely one and Chanler would not have been 
human if he had failed to be cognizant of her 
charm. 

As the moon rose they set off gaily enough for 
the Triangle Four and the evening was one of 
social triumph for Sylvia, much as she affected to 
disdain the friends from neighboring ranches who, 
until the coming of Garry and the Achesons, had 


MOONLIGHT AND MISCHIEF 117 

made up her world. There was heartburning 
among the punchers, for she danced at first only 
with the Easterner, but belated wisdom that was 
partly her awakening feminine instinct led her to 
relinquish him to the tenacious grasp of a clumsy, 
freckled maiden of uncertain age, while she dis- 
tributed her own favors with careless impar- 
tiality. 

Once when she passed him, rocking back and 
forth in an uncouth trot with an awkward, raw- 
boned rancher who smiled down fatuously upon 
the dainty, shining head so near his shoulder, 
Garry felt a hot wave of resentment sweeping over 
him which amazed him by its very intensity. Why 
should he, a mere stranger, feel nettled at the 
sight of her in the arms of this boor? He was 
probably a very decent fellow and might have 
known her all her life, and this too was the en- 
vironment in which she had grown to budding 
womanhood, the only one she had ever known. 

He shrugged, as though in a physical effort to 
rid himself of the train of thought into which he 
had fallen, but the feeling of resentment persisted 
and unconsciously his eyes followed her about the 
huge, crowded room. It was not only her pretti- 
ness, the exquisite daintiness and grace of her 
which set her apart from the drab, negative fig- 
ures of the other feminine guests, but some in- 


118 


TWO-GUN SUE 

tangible thing that marked her as of different clay. 
By Jove, that was it! She was different! Her 
very yearning after the finer things of life was an 
instinctive manifestation of it and this was no 
more her trne environment than the hard ranch 
life of his generation mnst have been that of her 
scholarly father. 

[Replying mechanically to the observations of the 
girl he was piloting across the floor to the asth- 
matic strains of the phonograph, Garry wondered 
impulsively if there were not something he could 
do to help Sylvia fulfill her dream of the East. 
Perhaps his aunt could be persuaded to invite her 

on for a visit ? Then with a quick revulsion 

he realized the absurdity of his half-formed 
thought. Mrs. Porter Chanler was a wise and 
worldly woman but she would be certain to mis- 
understand his interest and scent a romance where 
none existed. Sylvia was a charming, adorably 
pretty child but he could as easily have fancied 
himself in love with a Watteau shepherdess ! 

The Triangle Four, like the Circle Six, could 
not yet boast of an electric plant, and the room 
grew stiflingly hot under the reeking oil lamps. 
The phonograph squeaked on valiantly and tire- 
less dancers still circled the floor, when Garry at 
length determinedly elbowed a path to Sylvia’s 


MOONLIGHT AND MISCHIEF 119 

side and bore her away from the stalwart son of 
their host, and out upon the porch. 

Flooding moonlight had turned the mesquite 
into an undulating, silvery sea and a little night 
breeze rustled through a clump of bushes near by, 
fanning their faces refreshingly. 

“You’ve quite deserted me!” he said reproach- 
fully. “We have only waltzed together, and 
didn’t once try the new steps I showed you. I be- 
lieve you have forgotten them and you don’t want 
to admit it.” 

“Indeed I haven’t!” Sylvia laughed. “Try 
me and see! — Oh, dear, it’s too late! That’s the 
last dance now ! ’ ; 

The phonograph had been silenced and in its 
stead there came the reedy strains of a violin in 
an old-fashioned reel, and the laughter and bustle 
of the dancers taking their places. 

“We don’t want to get in that, do we?” asked 
Garry persuasively. 

Sylvia very much wanted to, but she divined his 
boredom and stifled her first impulse. Of course 
a man of the world like Garrison Chanler would 
be disgusted by a crude romp like the reel ! Much 
of the bitterness which had rankled within her at 
the disparaging comment upon herself uttered by 
Daisy Acheson had been banished by the latter’s 


120 TWO-GUN SUE 

subsequent flattery, but Sylvia’s resolve remained 
unaltered. She would show this man beside her 
that she was not the child he fancied her, but a 
woman. Before he left her at her door that night 
she would have her moment of triumph and then 
he might go back to the East and to Daisy Acheson 
if he liked ! 

The serenely bland face upturned to him in the 
moonlight revealed no trace of her thoughts, how- 
ever, and her tone was sweetly submissive as she 
replied to him. 

“I don’t care for the reel, it’s so rough and 
noisy. They won’t miss us; shall we just slip 
aw r ay now and start for home ! ’ ’ 

‘ ‘ If you wish, Sylvia. ’ ’ Her name slipped quite 
involuntarily from his lips and he seemed uncon- 
scious of it, but she felt a little thrill of satisfac- 
tion. ‘ ‘ Will you wait here while I get your cloak 
for you and bring the buckboard around? The 
drive back ought to be wonderful under that moon ; 
I don’t remember ever to have seen it shine so 
marvelously in the East. ’ ’ 

Sylvia nodded and smiled a trifle to herself as 
he strode within doors. The magic of the night 
stirred her, too, but she would not permit it to 
lay hold upon her; the dramatic situation she 
meant to stage filled her thoughts and she reveled 
in it in prospect with all her mischievous soul. 


MOONLIGHT AND MISCHIEF 121 


When Garry returned and slipped her cloak 
about her shoulders Sylvia swayed back slightly 
against him for the merest fraction of a second, 
so slightly that she knew he could never have 
told whether it was accident or design, but 
as he started for the wagon shed he set his lips 
firmly. 

He admitted to himself that she was danger- 
ously sweet in her naive innocence, but he must 
remember that she was ignorant, as well, of the 
rules of the game as it was played by the sophisti- 
cated debutantes he knew at home. Flirtation was 
the spice of life to them, but this artless little girl 
would not understand and only a cad could 
find amusement in fencing with so unskilled an 
opponent. 

The clapping of hands, stamping of feet and 
hilarious shouts from within rose above the whin- 
ing of the fiddle and shattered the serene stillness 
of the night as Garry drew the wiry little team up 
before the porch steps and held out his hand to 
Sylvia, who sprang lightly up beside him. Neither 
spoke until the ranch gates had been left behind 
them and the hubbub of the dancers died away in 
the distance. 

No other ranch house was visible and no light 
save that from their swaying lanterns contested 
the cool, clear rays which shimmered all about 


122 TWO-GUN SUE 

them in an ethereal effulgence. Sylvia drew a 
deep breath. 

“It’s almost like fairyland, isn’t it?” There 
was a wistful note in her voice. “Who would ever 
think that in the daytime it is the same, old, 
greeny-brown mesquite stretching for endless 
miles! Sometimes I almost hate the moon, it is 
such a deceitful flatterer ! ’ 7 

“ Perhaps it just brings out the — the beauty of 
everything that is hidden by day, or else you are 
so accustomed to it that the great, free spaces out 
here don’t appeal to you.” Garry’s eyes were 
fixed straight ahead down the white ribbon of the 
road which wound so swiftly beneath their wheels. 
“ You’ve had no opportunity yet, you know, to 
compare it to the crowded, grimy, conglomerate 
mass of stone and concrete that goes to make up 
a city.” 

“I don’t want to compare it, I want to forget it 
all! — Or I should, of course, except for Lee and 
Sue,” she amended hastily. “It seems big and 
free to you out here because you are free to go — 
you are going — back to everything, but to me it’s 
like living on a scrubby, lonely oasis in the midst 
of a desert that can’t be crossed, with New York 
always a mirage in the distance!” 

She sighed and in impulsive sympathy he patted 
the little hand which lay relaxed so close to his 


MOONLIGHT AND MISCHIEF 123 

knee. It curled upward and for an instant the 
fingers clung to his. 

‘ ‘ That ’s a very pretty simile but a false one, as 
you’ll see, little girl!” He spoke in a cheery, 
matter-of-fact tone as he gently disengaged his 
hand. Confound it! He was sorry for her, of 
course, but he might have had sufficient sense to 
confine his consolation to words ! ‘ ‘ A caravan will 
come along before you know it and take you across 
your desert! I hope when it does that the real 
city will make good all the promises that its 
mirage holds out to you.” 

Sylvia could have bitten him ! The cool imper- 
sonality of his tone maddened her and a sense of 
impending failure filled her with self-contempt. 
It had been silly of her to think that she could 
twist him about her fingers as she had the cow- 
punchers! He might think her pretty, perhaps, 
but she had not the airs and graces of a Daisy 
Acheson, the sort of girl whom he would take 
seriously ! / 

She stole a glance at his profile, clean-cut in the 
silvery light and the force of his dominant chin 
and firmly chiseled lips was impressed upon her 
anew. What had ever possessed her to dream 
that she could subjugate him where women of the 
world had failed ? What a little fool she had been ! 

Just at that moment a vagrant puff of the night 


124 


TWO-GUN SUE 


breeze blew a strand of her hair across his lips 
and the horses leaped forward. Looking down 
Sylvia saw that his hands had tightened involun- 
tarily upon the reins, until his knuckles whitened, 
and a wave of renewed confidence swept over her 
as she drew back her wayward hair and fastened 
it with a little laugh. He was not as impervious 
as she had thought, after all ! 

4 4 My hair is such a nuisance !” she murmured. 
“If it would only stay sleek and straight like Miss 
Ache son ’s !” 

“Don’t malign it!” Garry warned laugh- 
ingly. “Half the girls I know would give any- 
thing they possessed for such a crown of sheer, 
spun gold ! ’ ’ 

“You do say such nice things!” sighed Sylvia 
and tried to meet his eyes, but he kept them 
straight before him. “I suppose some day I shall 
marry one of those boys you saw back there at 
the dance and he’ll never know or care whether 
my hair is tow-colored or black as long as I can 
keep him mended and help cook for the round- 
up!” 

“Not that, for you ! ’ ’ Garry exclaimed ; and now 
he glanced down into the misty, violet-blue eyes, 
which seemed to cling as her slender fingers had 
done. “You’ll blaze a trail of broken hearts from 
here to the East and find a Prince Charming wait- 


MOONLIGHT AND MISCHIEF 125 

ing for you with ancestral estates and wealth to 
match your hair ! I am a prophet ! ’ ’ 

He spoke lightly, but it was with a conscious 
effort that he wrenched his eyes from hers. She 
was a bewitchingly provocative little creature with 
an appealing charm which somehow had never 
impressed him so poignantly before ; but he was 
not sorry when the lights of the Circle Six gleamed 
ahead. She ought to know better, precocious in- 
fant though she was, than to look at a fellow like 
that, or hold his hand or let her hair blow across 
his face! 

Little more was said between them until they 
turned in at the gate and drew up before the porch. 
Garry’s broncho was tethered to a post and as 
they alighted the lanky figure of Link Dole rose 
from the steps. He responded with his usual 
taciturnity to their greeting, climbed into the 
buckboard and drove off in the direction of the 
corral. 

When Garry turned, Sylvia had mounted the 
steps and only the glimmer of her white gown 
beneath the opened cloak revealed her presence 
in the shadows. 

“You’re quite sure you can’t ride over to- 
morrow, to say ‘good-bye’ to — Lee?” Her voice 
was the merest whisper, but it brought him up the 
steps and to her side with outstretched hand. 


126 


TWO-GUN SUE 

“I can’t, possibly. I’m sorry.” He, too, spoke 
very low but forced a note of easy cordiality. 
Good Lord, was the child going to make it difficult? 
Sylvia had moved so that a straying moonbeam 
played upon her hair and its reflection seemed 
to glow from her soft eyes. “This isn’t ‘good- 
bye, ’ however ; remember my prophecy ! Instead, 
shall we say as our Mexican friends do across the 
border, ‘hasta la vista’?” 

4 4 4 Until we meet again ? ’ ” There was a vibrant 
timbre in her voice now and as she laid her hand 
in his it trembled with excitement. Had her mo- 
ment come? “Shall we meet again, I wonder? 
We’ve had some splendid rides together !” 

“Indeed we have, and we’ll ride again, never 
fear!” He had misread the note in her tones as 
well as the quivering of the small hand. “I shall 
not forget ” 

“Won’t you?” Sylvia suddenly swayed toward 
him with upturned face and violet eyes holding 
his. “Garry!” 

For the barest instant he hesitated while she 
waited with tense breath, but the next moment he 
had stepped back with a little, bantering laugh and 
dropped her hand. 

“Take care, little girl! Friendship is a very 
wonderful thing, but don’t waste upon it the kisses 
you should keep for that Prince Charming I told 


MOONLIGHT AND MISCHIEF 127 


you would come! — Until we meet again, Sylvia !” 

He took her hand once more and with a swift 
gesture carried it to his lips, then descended the 
steps to his waiting broncho. At the gate he 
wheeled, waved to the small figure half -hidden in 
the shadows of the porch and galloped swiftly 
away. 

Sylvia stood immovable until the sound of hoofs 
had died in the distance while a rage such as she 
had never known consumed her. 

“Oh!” she gasped through set teeth, 
you! I hate you!” 


“I hate 


CHAPTER VIII. 


A LITTLE WHITE LIE 


N Monday afternoon Susanna alighted from 



the train at Dexter and engaged the town’s 
one jitney to drive her out to the ranch. She was 
pale beneath the clear tan, and deep shadows lay 
under her gray-blue eyes, but the small chin was 
lifted as dominantly as ever and there was no 
trace of fatigue in her voice as she addressed the 
freckled, tow-headed youth at the wheel. 

“Any news, Fred?” 

“I ain’t heard none, Miss Sue, ’ceptin’ Doc 
Rankin ’lowed to me this mornin’ that Lee’s get- 
tin’ on fine ; it’s all he c’n do to keep him in bed.” 
The boy hesitated. “Big Matt’s out with some 
of the boys follerin’ a new trail of Jake Brower’s 
bunch. ’ ’ 

“That’s splendid about Lee!” Susanna had 
noted the hesitation and with characteristic direct- 
ness she asked: “But what else have you heard 
from the Circle Six?” 

“Nothin’. Calc ’late you’ll hear somethin’, 
though, when you git to the ranch.” 

“Why?” Susanna leaned forward in sudden 
anxiety. ‘ 1 What has happened ? ’ ’ 


128 


A LITTLE WHITE LIE 


129 


“Wal, we’ll be thar in a little while and I ain’t 
aimin’ to scare you none, Miss Sue, but Clint 
Beckett rid in at sun-up like a posse was after 
him, and when he couldn’t find Big Matt he cor- 
ralled Sim Moser and took him back with him. 
They didn’t let on what the trouble was and Sim 
ain’t showed up since.” 

“But Doctor Rankin called later. Didn’t he 
say anything on his return?” Susanna asked. 

“No, just that Lee was doin’ fine, but he looked 
plumb important and he’s locked hisself in his 
shack. It ain’t the red-eye, either, for he ’lowed 
yesterd’y he was all out of it and aimin’ to take 
another little trip to the border soon’s Lee could 
git along for a day or so. ’ ’ 

Sylvia sat back without comment and became 
lost in anxious thought. What fresh misfortune 
could have come to the Circle Six? If Lee were 
indeed convalescing satisfactorily why should the 
old bootlegging doctor look “plumb important” 
over happenings at the ranch? 

She roused herself from futile speculation only 
when they passed between the wide gates. 

“Don’t stop at the house, Fred, drive right over 
to the corral. There’s Wes, and I want to speak 
to him before I go in.” 

The foreman came to meet them as they drew 
up with a final clatter of the rickety engine. 


130 


TWO-GUN SUE 

“Glad you’re home, Miss Sue!” He shook 
hands, looking the question he would not voice. 
“Howdy, Fred. We didn’t know Miss Sue was 
cornin’ back or I’d have had the buckboard to the 
deepo.” 

There was reproach in his tone and Susanna 
laughed as she paid the youth his fare, but now 
there was a little tired break in her voice. 

“I didn’t know myself until just before train 
time,” she remarked. “Good-bye, Fred.” 

The jitney rattled off toward the gate once more 
and Wes demanded eagerly: 

1 ‘ What did you do, Miss Sue ! Will they give us 
till the fall round-up!” 

Susanna shook her head. 

“Only thirty days’ extension on the notes, Wes. 
Uncle Dave Hartwell was right; it’s the show- 
down. I fought hard, but it wasn’t any use.” 

For a moment the foreman gazed out silently 
over the vast stretch of coppery-green mesquite 
toward a cluster of sorrel dots moving slowly in 
the distance. It was part of the herd of sleek 
cattle which he had counted upon to save the Circle 
Six, and he had guarded and cared for them 
through “norther” and drought, famine, pesti- 
lence and predatory raids by man and beast. Was 
all to go for nothing! He ran his hand through 
his grizzled hair and the Adam’s apple traveled 


A LITTLE WHITE LIE 131 

up chokingly into his throat, but when he spoke 
it was with a note of buoyant confidence. 

“Wal, thirty days is somethin ’, after all. Ree- 
collect what you said about a lot happenin , in that 
time? Somethin’s happened a ’ready; the Circle 
Six is worth twenty-five thousand more than it 
was afore you went away ! ’ ’ 

< ‘ ‘ Twenty-five thousand !’ ” Susanna repeated. 
“Wes, have you gone crazy?” 

“Not no more so than the hombre who offered 
that price for it and he’s as sneaky-smart as a 
coyote. Lee ’ll tell you all ’bout it, though. ” Wes 
hitched up his trousers. “I reckon thirty days 
is time ’nough for us to find out why anybody 
wants the ranch so bad they’ll pay such a sight 
for it.” 

‘ 6 Lee ’s all right ? ’ ’ The mention of her brother 
had recalled to Susanna her conversation with the 
jitney driver. “Fred said the doctor acted 
strangely when he got back to Dexter this morning 
and that Clint rode in at dawn to try to find the 
sheriff. Has there been more trouble?” 

“It ain’t ’bout Lee, ’cept to keep him quiet, but 
the spring ’s p ’izened. I didn ’t want him to know, 
but that ole lame hound of his ’n got it first. Clint 
found him layin’ out there all swole up.” 

“Not poor old ’Rastus!” Susanna cried. “Lee 
will be heartbroken ! But the cows ? ’ ’ 


132 


TWO-GUN SUE 


'“None of ’em got to it afore we put a guard on, 
and Doc Rankin took a bottle of the water to see 
what ’d been put into it. ” Wes chewed reflectively. 
“One of that da — that ornery outfit of Jake’s 
must have slunk up in the night and emptied the 
p’izen in, for the spring was all right yesterd’y 
at sundown. I run all the cows into the next 
section so’s they can git at the crick above where 
the spring j’ines it, and they’re safe ’nough. Ole 
’Rastus was crippled and half blind, anyways, 
and I reckon it was a shore quick finish. ’ ’ 

“Oh, I wish Big Matt would get that wretch 
Jake Brower and his outfit, or else drive them 
out of the county!” Susanna exclaimed, adding: 
“That is the only thing that Lee has ever kept 
from me in his life, Wes, I think; the cause of the 
quarrel between him and Jake. It must have 
been very bitter to cause such bad blood. Do you 
know what it was ? ’ ’ 

The foreman looked uncomfortable. 

‘ ‘ I ain ’t never ast him, ’ ’ he temporized. c ‘ Lee ’s 
hot-headed, but you can bet whatever it was he had 
the right of it ! Sim Moser came back with Glint 
from Dexter this mornin’ but he couldn’t f oiler the 
tracks from the spring through the mesquite and 
he rid off after Big Matt.” 

“Well,” with a sigh Sue turned toward the 
house, “I’ll go and tell Lee that everything is all 


A LITTLE WHITE LIE 


133 


right about the business in Mammon City; he 
mustn’t be worried with the truth until he is on 
his feet again/ ’ 

She found her brother improved but with every 
nerve in his healthy young body crying out for 
the activity which his shattered kneecap denied 
him. He recounted to her the details of Acheson’s 
extraordinary offer and Wes’ suggestion that the 
elderly financier might have suspected the pres- 
ence of valuable mineral deposits beneath the 
rolling mesquite. 

“I don’t think Wes is on the right track, Sue, 
for Acheson’s no fool and he is something of a 
geologist, ’ ’ Lee continued. ‘ ‘ He studied it in his 
youth, according to Garrison Chanler, so we can 
be fairly certain that it isn’t a mine he is thinking 
of. He gave me his address in New York and 
thirty days in which for us to make up our minds. ’ ’ 

“ i Thirty days’!” Susanna echoed, struck by 
the coincidence. That was the length of time given 
them in which to meet the notes, to achieve the 
impossible! “Mr. Chanler knows the Achesons. 
He has been here?” 

“Yes. I asked him to supper Saturday night 
and he took Sylvia to the party at the Triangle 
Four.” Lee replied to the last question first. 
“He’s gone now; left for the East this morning. 
I guess he is a top-notcher in spite of his unas- 


134 


TWO-GUN SUE 


suming ways ; family and money and all that sort 
of thing, I mean. He lives at a bachelor apartment 
house on upper Fifth Avenue called the ^land- 
ford J and asked me to look him up when I came to 
New York, hut I told him I hadn’t any idea of 
doing any traveling right soon! He knows the 
Achesons in a social way, but he hasn’t much use 
for the old man — says he’s a pretty sharp cus- 
tomer. I’d give something to know why he really 
wants the ranch ! ’ ’ 

“Where is Sylvia?” Susanna asked suddenly. 

4 4 Out for a ride. I warned her not to go farther 
than Dexter because of Jake and his outfit, but I 
don’t believe it had much weight with her. She 
was in a queer mood all day yesterday, quiet but 
sort of brooding ; I suppose it is because I refused 
Acheson’s offer for the ranch.” Lee moved rest- 
lessly. 4 4 She’s a good kid, but I swear I don’t 
understand her, Sue. I wish she was more like 
us!” 

In her heart Susanna echoed that wish when 
later they were seated together at supper and she 
had an opportunity to study the younger girl. 
Sylvia’s delicate, wild rose color had given place 
to a small brilliant spot of red which glowed in 
either cheek ; her eyes, although sunken, smoldered 
as with an inward fever and there were drawn 
lines about the small, set mouth. Surely some- 


A LITTLE WHITE LIE 


135 


thing deeper than her mere disappointment anent 
the refusal of Acheson ’s proposition must have 
occurred to change her so. Could it be the result 
of her brief association with that other girl, from 
the world of which she longed to become a part? 
Sylvia had been unfeignedly glad to see her sister, 
but there was a guarded reserve in her manner 
wholly new to her, and she betrayed only a listless 
interest in the conversation which Susanna at- 
tempted to keep going. 

As soon as the meal was finished she pleaded a 
headache and slipped away to her own room, while 
Susanna wandered out to the porch and seated 
herself on the steps. Sylvia ’s strange mood faded 
from her mind before the bigger problems which 
faced her, and the question repeated itself tire- 
lessly in her brain. What did Acheson want with 
the ranch? Nothing but cattle-raising had ever 
been thought of in the vicinity and the few pros- 
pectors who had ventured there had either been 
laughed to scorn or had departed in disgust at the 
futility of their efforts. What information or 
knowledge did Acheson possess of which they 
themselves were in ignorance and which enhanced 
the value of the Circle Six so greatly in his esti- 
mation? Recalling his long, shrewd, fox-like face, 
with the predatory jaw and keen, close-set eyes, 
Susanna was under no delusion as to his offer 


136 


TWO-GUN SUE 


having been made on the strength of the mere 
whim he alleged. Could they discover his motive 
in the thirty days which remained to them? 

Susanna had none of the usual tendency of her 
sex to evade an issue, and, repugnant as the 
thought was to her, she forced herself to face the 
fact that in the event of the notes being called in 
by the Mammon City banks common sense would 
compel them to accept the Eastern magnate’s 
offer ; she and Lee must consider Sylvia ’s future 
as well as their own, and they could not hope to 
obtain any such value at a local sale. The thought 
of losing the Circle Six tore at her heartstrings 
with an almost physical pain, and a defiant, if 
despairing, courage rose within her. Surely a 
way would be shown her in which the ranch might 
be saved ! 

Twilight deepened into a starlit darkness and the 
moonbeams played softly upon her like a shielded 
light in the hands of a tenderly watchful guardian, 
when all at once a subdued, choking sound came 
to her ears and Susanna straightened, listening 
intently. It came again — a muffled, dry sob ! 

Bising, she passed swiftly indoors and made her 
way to Sylvia’s room where she knocked softly. 
The sobbing ceased abruptly but no response came 
from within. Turning the knob she entered. The 
room was in darkness save for a single ray of 


A LITTLE WHITE LIE 


137 


moonlight that streamed in at the window, reveal- 
ing a slender figure prone across the bed with the 
golden head buried in the pillows. 

‘ ‘ Sylvia, dear ! What is it ? ’ ’ Susanna closed the 
door behind her and advanced to the bedside. 

“N-nothing! P-please go away!” The words 
were petulant but the half-stifled tones held a 
tragic note. 

“I must know what is troubling you, Sylvia !” 
Susanna leaned forward and tried to raise her 
sister in her arms, but the slim form stiffened. 

“No! Hon ’t touch me !” Sylvia dug her head 
still deeper into the pillows. “Oh, can’t you see 
I want to be alone ? ’ 1 

i c But perhaps I can help. ’ 9 Susanna urged, now 
seriously alarmed. “You have always come to me 
with everything, you know, dear ! 9 9 

‘ ‘ N-nobody can help ! Oh, I wish I were dead ! 9 9 
There was no hint of tears in the racking sobs, 
but Sylvia’s form relaxed a trifle under her 
sister’s touch and Susanna pursued her 
advantage. 

“It isn’t because Lee was unwilling to sell our 
home, is it, dear? You see we are not sure just 
what Mr. Acheson’s offer may mean. We don’t 
take him entirely in good faith, and that young 
Easterner whom you know, Mr. Chanler — why, 
Sylvia!” 


138 


TWO-GUN SUE 


For Sylvia had uttered a low cry and thrust 
her sister from her with unexpected strength. 

“ Don’t speak of him! Don’t you dare ever to 
mention that beast to me again ! ” 

She sat up suddenly, brushing the disheveled 
hair from her eyes with a violent gesture, and 
Susanna started back at the expression on the 
distorted face. Chanler? He had ridden with 
Sylvia almost daily, had taken her to the dance 
on Saturday night and Lee said that the little 
sister had been brooding ever since. In all her 
outbursts of anger Sylvia had never called anyone 
a “ beast” before, nor had that look ever been 
upon her face. And Chanler had gone away! 
What had been said on that last ride together? 

Seizing the younger girl by her shoulders, Su- 
sanna turned her until the moonlight streamed 
full upon her face. 

“Sylvia, look at me ! Why do you speak of Mr. 
Chanler in that way? How has he offended you? 
I want to know the truth ! ’ ’ 

“ ‘Offended me ! ’ ” Sylvia’s tone trembled with 
pent-up rage and mortification. “I — you haven’t 
the right to ask me ! No one has the right ! Isn’t 
it enough that I have got to think of it, to remem- 
ber all the rest of my life ? Oh, if I could only die ! 

I never — I didn ’t know ! ’ ’ 

‘ ‘ 4 Didn ’t know ’ ? ’ ’ There was an ominous 


A LITTLE WHITE LIE 


139 


quiet in the older girl’s voice, the portent of which 
was lost upon Sylvia in her hysterical wrath and 
shame. ‘ 4 Didn’t know what? You have gone too 
far now not to tell me everything, and I have the 
right to know ! We are of one blood ! 9 9 

1 1 That is all the more reason ! To think that I, 

a Poindexter ! But the only boys I have ever 

known were those around here, so how could I 

tell? I believed — I thought he meant ! Oh, 

why didn’t I die before he ever came ! I hate him ! 
I hate him ! If I were a man I would kill him if I 
had to follow him to the ends of the earth!” 

She wrenched herself free from her sister’s 
grasp, burying her face in the pillow once more, 
and this time the tears came in an overwhelming 
flood at the memory of that moment of bitter 
humiliation, the first she had ever known, when 
Garry Chanler had refused her lips. 

The fact that mingling with the anger and hot 
resentment that had smoldered within her for two 
days there was a searing fire of self-scorn, only 
fanned the flame of her loathing against the man 
who had humbled her, and she spoke impulsively 
without thinking what construction might be 
placed upon her vindictive, frenzied words. They 
were a mere exaggeration, anyway, a little white 
lie which soothed her wounded pride and self- 
esteem. 


140 


TWO-GUN SUE 


Susanna stood as though turned to stone, gazing 
down upon the trembling, weeping form and 
within her a mighty purpose formed. A Poin- 
dexter had been wronged and a Poindexter alone 
should exact what tardy reparation were possible 
for such harm ! Lee was the man of the family, 
but he lay grievously injured, with many weeks 
of convalescence before him, and Sylvia was still 
in years a mere child. Susanna alone remained to 
see that the honor of their name should be upheld 
and maintained, and at the realization she 
straightened beneath the crushing blow as though 
the accolade had fallen upon her shoulders. 

Garrison Chanler should make the only amends 
which lay in his power ! He should return to kneel 
in supplication at the feet of the child whom he 
had thought to amuse himself with merely for an 
hour ! All thought of the enemy lurking in ambush 
to plunder and kill was swept from Susanna’s 
mind as completely as was the problem of the 
fateful thirty days before them. Though this cur 
went indeed to the ends of the earth, she would 
follow ! He might be rich, influential, clever ; she 
would match her wits against his — her wits, and 
if necessary the sureness of her aim. Whatever 
the difficulty, whatever the cost, Susanna would 
get her man ! 


CHAPTEE IX 


CONSEQUENCES 

T HE sun was high when Sylvia awoke the next 
morning and she lay for awhile drowsily 
going over in her mind the conversation of a few 
hours before with her sister. It had been stupid 
of her to break down like that and bring Sue to 
her door ; more stupid still to admit that she had 
been crying about any man ! Garry Chanler had 
been insufferable, but he was gone for good, and 
if she were to rid herself of that scathing sense 
of humiliation and shame she must just stop 
remembering that such an odious creature existed I 
She started to rise, but paused with one pink 
foot extended, as a little disquieting thought came 
to her. Sue was so serious! Had she inferred 
more from that outburst against Garry Chanler 
than Sylvia herself had intended! Of course, he 
hadn’t actually insulted her, even though he had 
taken it upon himself to make her feel bold and 
cheap! Her cheeks burned again at the very 
thought of that hideous moment, and although she 
hated him none the less for his attitude, she was 

141 


142 


TWO-GUN SUE 


forced to acknowledge in her inmost heart that 
she had brought it upon herself. 

But what if he should not have gone for good, 
after all! If he should return and Sue encoun- 
tered him, there might be embarrassing conse- 
quences. After holding up the Achesons in that 
high-handed fashion there was nothing she might 
not be capable of saying or doing ! 

But it was a far cry from New York to the Circle 
Six, and for the first time Sylvia thought with 
thankfulness of the vast distance between. Sheer 
accident had brought Garry Chanler to Dexter in 
the first place and nothing could be more unlikely 
than that he should ever return. The broad sun- 
light streaming in at the window upon appoint- 
ments familiar since her childhood, the echo of 
Tad Mason’s exuberant “whoopee” from the cor- 
ral, the rattle of Wun See’s pots and pans in the 
cook house, all the customary trivial sights and 
sounds of early morning, made the scene of the 
previous evening seem like a silly dream, and as 
she dressed Sylvia laughed at her fears of a few 
moments before. Garrison Chanler didn’t matter 
any more, his path would never cross theirs again 
and everything was just as it was before he came. 

Humming blithely she was turning away from 
her dresser when the corner of a folded square of 
paper protruding from beneath the fat little pin- 


CONSEQUENCES 143 

cushion caught her eye and the humming ceased 
abruptly as she drew it forth with a puzzled frown. 
Her name was written upon it in Susanna’s firm 
hand and her own fingers trembled as she unfolded 
it. 


“Dear Sylvia” [she read], “I am going 
away on important business. Don’t worry if 
you do not hear from me for a week or two. 
Take good care of Lee and obey the instruc- 
tions I have left for you with Wes. All my 
love. Susanna.” 

Gone away ! What ‘ 1 important business ’ ’ could 
have come up so suddenly? Why had Sue not 
mentioned it on the previous night? She must 
have slipped into the room while Sylvia slept and 
tucked the note beneath the cushion. But why 
had she not awakened her and told her instead? 

A score of questions thronged in Sylvia’s mind 
as she flew with lightning feet down the gallery 
to her sister’s room. The door was ajar and one 
glance within made the girl catch her breath 
sharply, for it was empty, the bed had not been 
disturbed and there were evidences everywhere 
of hurried repacking. 

Impulsively Sylvia started for Lee’s room, but 
a second thought made her pause and then return 
slowly to her own, where she plumped down upon 


144 


TWO-GUN SUE 


the side of the bed with one foot tucked 
under her and smoothed the little note out on her 
knee. 

Where could Sue have gone ? Since her return 
from school in Kansas City she had been no 
further from the ranch than to the nearby county- 
seat, and then only for a few days’ stay. What 
business connected with the ranch could keep her 
away for a week or two, and why had she gone so 
secretly? 

The note, too, mere scrap though it was, seemed 
unlike Sue. She was not demonstrative except on 
rare occasions, and there was something strained 
and formal about “all my love. Susanna.” As 
Sylvia read and reread it, the injunction which 
in her first surprise had escaped her notice was 
borne in upon her and she crumpled the paper in 
her hands. What “instructions” had Sue left 
for her with the foreman? Why would they all 
still persist in treating her as though she were a 
child! Wes must know where Sue had gone and 
why, and she determined to seek him out without 
further delay. 

But no one was near the corral or outbuildings 
save Tad, and he informed her that the foreman 
had ridden out to a far section of the ranch and 
would not return before nightfall, so she retraced 
her steps to the house and sat down to a solitary 
breakfast for which she had no appetite. She had 


CONSEQUENCES 145 

forborn to ask Tad about her sister’s unexpected 
departure and his frank, cheery manner had be- 
trayed nothing unusual, but as she drank her 
coffee Sylvia forced herself to face a preposterous 
idea which had been in the back of her mind since 
she first read the note. 

Could Sue have actually placed a literal con- 
struction upon her charge against Garry Chanler 
and followed him to compel an apology? It seemed 
ridiculous, beyond the wildest possibility, and yet 
Sue had inherited their father’s fiery Southern 
pride in a more marked degree even than Lee, 
and would go to any extreme length to avenge a 
personal affront. What if she should overtake 
Garry and learn from him the true version of what 
had really occurred ! 

Sylvia pushed aside her almost untasted break- 
fast and went out to pace up and down upon the 
porch, striving to recall every detail of the pre- 
vious night ’s conversation. She remembered that 
Sue had been very quiet — strangely quiet, it 
seemed now! — after her outburst against Garry. 
She had soothed her and bathed her face and put 
her to bed, but had made no direct comment on 
the situation, and her final “ good-night” had been 
said in an almost absent-minded way. Of course, 
she might have been troubled about something 
else, something connected with the financial man- 
agement of the ranch and perhaps making up her 


146 


TWO-GUN SUE 


mind to take this trip; it might be that she had 
not even comprehended the import of Sylvia’s 
words and gathered only that there had been some 
sort of misunderstanding with the Easterner 
before his departure. Sylvia grasped eagerly at 
the comfort of this thought, but the doubt 
remained, and at last she turned and went in to 
her brother’s room. 

‘ ‘Hello! ’’Lee greeted her from the pillows. 
“ Don’t I get any breakfast around here? I’ve 
been ringing and ringing, and I know that slant- 
eyed Chink isn’t half as deaf as he pretends to be 
You wait till I ’m on my feet again ! ’ ’ 

“I’ll get your breakfast in a minute, Lee.” 
Sylvia straightened the bedclothes and brought 
him a bowl of fresh water. “Do you know that 
Sue has gone away again? ” 

She had not meant to ask a direct question, but 
it passed her lips almost inadvertently and Lee 
nodded vigorously as he reached for the towel in 
her hand. 

“Yes, she woke me at sun-up and said she 
wasn’t satisfied with the way things had gone in 
Mammon City after she had had time to think it 
over, and had decided to go back ; she may even 
have to make a trip to Dallas — Ouch! Soap in 
my eye!” 

His further remarks were muffled in the towel 


CONSEQUENCES 147 

and Sylvia waited until lie emerged before 
demanding anxiously: 

“You ’re sure that is why she’s gone, Lee? It 
isn’t just an excuse?” 

* ‘ What in the world ! ’ ’ Lee stared. ‘ ‘ Where 

else would she go, and why?” 

“Well, she never tells me anything!” Sylvia 
temporized in an injured tone, but her spirits 
lifted once more. If it was only that tiresome 

legal business about the ranch ! “I don’t see 

why you let her run everything, Lee !” 

“I don’t mean to, after this, for her own sake !” 
Lee retorted. “She’s the oldest, and took hold 
right after father’s death, while I have had my 
hands full here, you know, ever since I left college, 
but it is a shame that she should have a man’s 
work thrust upon her shoulders! She’s only 
twenty-five right now, remember, and lots of girls 
have nothing in their empty heads at that age 
except dancing and flirting ! ’ ’ 

Sylvia blushed scarlet. 

“If that is a hit at me ” She paused with 

the wash-basin in her hands and spoke with dig- 
nity. “I don’t flirt, and it is only natural to like 
to dance ! If you want us both to be old maids on 
your hands ! ’ 9 

“Sue will never be that!” Lee sat up suddenly. 
“When do I get some grub?” 


148 


TWO-GUN SUE 


Her brother’s wants attended to, Sylvia inter- 
viewed Wun See and set the house to rights, then 
wandered restlessly out to the corral, but it was 
deserted even by Tad. Moonlady whinnied softly 
and trotted up to put her velvety nose between the 
rails, but among the other horses there was no sign 
of her own pet broncho and Sylvia’s lips set 
resentfully. Wes wouldn’t have thought of turn- 
ing Moonlady out without directions from Sue, 
and he had no right to be so high-handed with her ! 
Had he taken it for granted that she would not 
ride that day just because that horrid Chanler 
person had gone ? 

She turned away and started for the house when 
a woman rode in at the gate and straight up to 
her; a magnificent figure of a woman, too full- 
blown perhaps, but with boldly handsome features 
and the clear olive skin and dark, flashing eyes of 
the country below the border. 

The del Eio woman, sweetheart of Jake 
Brower ’s henchman ! What could she want here ? 
Sylvia drew herself up slightly, but before she 
could speak the other murmured in soft, liquid 
tones : 

“Pardon, Senorita. Your sister, she ees 
here?” 

“Not now. Hid you wish to see her?” Sylvia 
kept her own tones studiously polite. Nothing was 


CONSEQUENCES 149 

to be gained by ordering the woman off the ranch, 
and such a course would only make an open enemy 
of her. 

‘ 1 Eet ees a message that I have for her. ’ 9 Eosa 
del Eio hesitated. “She weel return this night, 
no?” 

“I do not think so, but I can take any message 
you have brought.” 

“No!” The woman drew herself up in her 
high saddle. “Eet ees alone to her that I can 
speak. You weel say to her when she come, please, 
that Eosa del Eio have the message for her, but 
there ees risk? I weel send the little Eafael to 
find when the Senorita shall return.” 

The woman had glanced furtively back at the 
deserted road and Sylvia asked quickly : 

“Is it about — about my brother? I don’t know 
when my sister will return, but it may not be for 
some days. If it is important, if you have come as 
a friend ?” 

“A friend? Yes!” the woman interrupted 
eagerly. Then her face darkened and she shook 
her head. “The message I can tell only to the 
seester and that eef no other knows that I have 
been here, but the little Eafael, he shall come. 
Adios, Senorita!” 

She nodded gravely, wheeled her pinto and 
urged it at a dead run for the gate and Sylvia stood 


150 


TWO-GUN SUE 


gazing after her in bewilderment. Should she 
tell Lee — or Wes — of this unexpected visitor? 
The woman had forbidden it, but she had come in 
broad daylight and taken the chance that the fore- 
man or some of the punchers might be about the 
corral. Rosa del Rio belonged to the element with 
which the girls of the Circle Six did not come in 
contact and Sylvia had never exchanged a word 
with her before. What could she have wanted? 
Had she indeed a message for Sue from someone? 

Sylvia was still pondering when she heard a 
familiar step behind her and she turned to face 
Wes. 

“Mornin’, Miss Sylvie.’ ’ He smiled and the 
fine wrinkles deepened about his kindly eyes. 
* ‘You been lookin’ for that pinto of your’n? He 
seemed to be favorin’ his shoulder again and I 
knew you’d want him rested up — Was that del 
Rio girl lookin’ for me?” 

He asked the question blandly, but Sylvia 
snapped : 

“No! Were you expecting her?” 

“I shore wasn’t !” Wes returned with emphasis. 
“You oughtn’t to have talked to her. Miss Sylvie ; 
if I ’d come in time, I ’d ha ’ run her off the ranch. ’ ’ 

“I’ll talk to whom I please!” Sylvia drew her- 
self up to all her slim height. “It’s about time 
people realized that I’m not a child any longer!” 


CONSEQUENCES 151 

The foreman gazed at her with an expression of 
hurt bewilderment, as though she had struck him. 

“Miss Sylvie! It’s just because I’ve watched 
you grow up since you wasn’t knee-high to a 
coyote that I’m tellin’ you!” he protested earn- 
estly. “That del Rio girl ain’t fitten to speak to 
you and she’s got no business on the Circle Six. 
I don’t guess you savvy, but she’s plumb friendly 
with some of J ake Brower ’s outfit — or was — and 
her cornin’ here means trouble. What did she 
claim to want?” 

“I don’t know!” In sheer contrariness Sylvia 
resolved to keep the woman’s confidence. “I 
couldn’t understand her well enough to find out, 
and she turned suddenly and rode off; she must 
have seen you coming. Who is ‘ the little Rafael ’ ? ” 

“Kid that lives in her shack, ’bout six-seven 
year old ; brother, I guess. ” Wes eyed her keenly. 
“Wkat’d Rosa say ’bout the little cuss-feller!” 

“Something about his coming here, but I 
couldn’t make it out.” 

‘ 6 1 Comin ’ here ’ ! ” Wes repeated. “You couldn ’t 
have got that straight, Miss Sylvie; the kid cain’t 
ride yet, and he shore couldn’t hoof it all them 
miles ! If Rosa comes again and you see her, just 
you call me. I’m dead certain that Miss Susanna 
wouldn’t like for you to ” 

“I don’t care whether she would or not !” Sylvia 


152 


TWO-GUN SUE 


interrupted, adding quickly: “Wes, what do you 
know about Sue going away again so soon? She 
never said a word about it to me last night, but 
she told Lee this morning that she might have to 
go to Dallas. ’ ’ 

“Eeckon that’s correct.” Wes was gazing out 
along the road which Eosa del Eio had taken. 
“Miss Susanna’s got a powerful heap to do 
roundin’ up the business of the ranch.” 

There was a note of reserve in his voice which 
the girl’s quick ear caught. 

“You knew she was going ! ’ ’ she accused. 

“Not till she come out to the bunkhouse all fixed 
up to go to the train,” replied Wes patiently. 
“That was just ’bout light this mornin’. There’s 
somethin’ that’s got to be ’tended to afore a par- 
tic ’lar time and I cal ’elate that’s what took Miss 
Susanna away. Link driv’ her down to the deepo. 
Eeckon she kind of made up her mind over night. ’ ’ 

The foreman’s matter-of-fact tones had allayed 
the last lingering doubt in Sylvia ’s mind as to the 
motive for her sister’s sudden journey, but she 
bethought herself of the injunction in the note. 

“Sue said she had left some in — some message 
for me with you. What is it, Wes ? ” she demanded. 

He looked uncomfortable. 

“You ain’t goin’ to take it right kindly, but Miss 
Sue don’t want for you to go often the ranch by 


CONSEQUENCES 153 

yourself while she’s away. — It’s on account of 
Jake’s outfit,” he added hurriedly. “They tried 
to git Lee and there ain’t no tellin’ where they’ll 
stop afore Big Matt rounds ’em up. One of the 
boys kin ride in to Dexter with you when you want 
to go ” 

“I don’t want them!” Sylvia cried furiously. 
“It’s bad enough to have to live here without 
being kept prisoner ! I shall ride where I please I 
— So that was why you took my pinto out of the 
corral, was it? I — oh, if Lee didn’t need me I’d 
show you all ! ” 

She turned abruptly and started for the house, 
leaving Wes to stare after her, open-mouthed. 
How perfectly horrid of Sue ! It was just another 
excuse to try to exercise authority over her, for 
she couldn’t be in any danger from Jake or his 
outfit. His quarrel was with Lee alone. She was 
glad that she hadn’t given Wes the satisfaction of 
knowing Rosa del Rio’s message; glad that she 
had given him something to think about. Could 
she have looked ahead and known the ultimate cost 
of her silence Sylvia would have flown back to him 
on winged feet, but instead she went into the house 
and closed the door. 


CHAPTER X 


FKOM THE CLOUDS 

T HE huge train shed roared with a score of 
engines and screeched with a thousand 
wheels, and a veritable sea of people surged like 
stampeded cattle about the vast rotunda of the 
terminal station. Red-capped porters shouldered 
their way through the throng and the stentorian 
tones of the train announcers bellowed above the 
multitudinous hum of voices and the shuffle and 
clatter of innumerable feet on marble floor. 

The girl in the plain blue traveling suit with 
masses of rippling brown hair showing beneath 
her small hat, who had worked her way to the edge 
of the incoming crowd from a late train, halted in 
the first cleared space and placing her huge, 
shabby bag at her feet stood for a moment watch- 
ing the hurrying mob with amazed but not dis- 
mayed eyes. New York! 

All these people could not live here, of course. 
They were just passing through, travelers like 
herself. During the hot, tedious days of her 
journey, Susanna had stifled an occasional qualm 
within her by the reflection that the Empire City 

154 


FROM THE CLOUDS 


155 


was only a bigger Dexter after all; bigger even 
than Kansas City, but with its grades of society 
as definitely accentuated as in a cattle town. 
What did the immensity and strangeness of the 
metropolis matter to her ? She had her mission to 
accomplish, a wrong to right and mere surround- 
ings were of little moment. 

She would find Garrison Chanler, compel him 
to return with her and offer to Sylvia a name to 
replace the one he had regarded so lightly. If he 

did not ? Unconsciously she squared her 

shoulders and the small, firmly-molded chin lifted. 
She had crossed more than half a continent to get 
her man, and she would not return until her pur- 
pose was accomplished. 

Picking up her bag once more she dived into the 
throng converging densely like scurrying mice at 
the gate, to be arrested by an obsequious voice at 
her side. 

‘ ‘ Carry yo ’ bag, miss 1 9 9 

Thankfully she relinquished it to the porter. 

‘ ‘Is there a hotel near?” 

“Yas’m, just oveh the street.” His round eyes 
glanced in quick appraisal over her simple attire. 
“Hit’s er monst’ous big hotel, but hit’s boun’ ter 
be full ’ceptin’ de mostest ’spensive ’suites, 
eve ’y thin’s scandalous high in dis man’s town, 
though!” 


156 


TWO-GUN SUE 


Susanna admitted the truth of this to herself 
somewhat ruefully a few minutes later when she 
had registered and followed a resplendently uni- 
formed bellboy from the glittering lobby to an 
elevator. The huge caravansary was more gor- 
geous than any palace of her imagining, but her 
purse was slender and if Chanler were not at his 
apartments she must locate him quickly, no 
matter by what means. To wire home for more 
funds would be unthinkable; no one must know 
she had been in New York until her return with 
the despicable object of her quest. 

A sudden thought made her smile a trifle grimly 
to herself as after a simple meal in her room she 
set about her preparation for bed. Unless she 
heard his name she would not know Chanler if he 
stood before her, for she had never even seen his 
face ! He was comparatively young and must be 
suave of manner and good-looking, after a dash- 
ing, insolent, perhaps even dissipated fashion, to 
have impressed a mere unsophisticated child. He 
rode and danced and dressed well according to 
Eastern ideas, as must some thousands of other 
young men in the city and Susanna strove to recall 
a single distinctive comment upon him which 
might serve to set him apart from the general run. 
She had heard him mentioned only in a casual way 
by her brother and the punchers on the ranch when 


157 


FROM THE CLOUDS 

they were speculating as to his presence in Dexter. 

Had he seen her, though? If, guessing her 
errand, he were coward enough to refuse to 
receive her and she were compelled to force herself 
upon him by strategy, would he try to evade her 
before she could state her purpose? If so, she had 
but one recourse, and in anticipation she did not 
falter. One way or the other, Garrison Chanler 
should pay ! 

The sunlight streaming in at the window awak- 
ened her the next morning and for a minute 
Susanna lay staring in bewildered fashion at the 
strange, ornate room and listening to the subdued 
roar of traffic which rose wave on wave in an ever- 
flowing tide of sound from the street far below. 
Where on earth was she and what was going on? 
She missed the motion of the train to which the 
three previous days had made her accustomed, and 
there was something hushed and expectant in the 
quietude immediately about her in contrast to that 
muffled, multisonous rumble and clangor from 
without. 

Then full consciousness brought a flash of 
remembrance and she sprang from her bed and 
rang the bell. She had reached her journey’s end 
and her self-appointed mission awaited her. She 
had no intention of warning Garrison Chanler of 
her coming by note or telephone call, and although 


158 


TWO-GUN SUE 


it was still early she meant to breakfast and 
then present herself at the address which her 
brother had mentioned, the Blandford Apart- 
ments. 

Susanna procured the address on upper Fifth 
Avenue from the telephone book and prepared to 
put her plan into immediate execution, giving no 
thought to the fact that the visit of a young woman 
unattended to a bachelor apartment on the city’s 
most aristocratic thoroughfare in the broad sun- 
light of early morning would be apt to place her 
in a most unenviable position. Her intention, from 
the moment when her resolve was taken, had had 
the directness of utter simplicity, and it did not 
occur to her now to deviate from it ; to find Garri- 
son Chanler, to confront him, no matter what the 
attendant circumstances, and exact reparation for 
the wrong he had done, even as her brother or 
father — had the latter been still living — would 
have exacted it. Neither was there a hint of melo- 
drama in the business-like air with which she drew 
from her bag a small revolver, loaded it and 
slipped it into the soft voluminous folds of her 
silk girdle. No dread of the legal inhibitions of an 
effete eastern civilization deterred her ; there was 
one law, east and west, for the despoiler of woman- 
hood and that lay ready to her hand. 

The Blandford proved to be further uptown 


FROM THE CLOUDS 


159 


than she had supposed, and removed from the 
stately ranks of palatial residences of white stone 
and marble. It was an old-fashioned private 
dwelling, which had evidently been recently con- 
verted into apartments and boasted an elderly 
dignified attendant at the switchboard and another 
in charge of the elevator. 

The former regarded her in well-bred but undis- 
guised astonishment as Susanna presented herself 
before him and asked for Mr. Garrison Chanler. 

“Mr. Chanler, miss ?” he repeated, as though he 
could scarcely believe his ears. ‘ * 1 really couldn ’t 
say, miss ! What name, please ? ’ ’ 

“Just say that a lady would like to speak to 
him on important business ; the name doesn’t mat- 
ter.” Susanna replied more brusquely than was 
her wont, conscious that she was flushing beneath 
the old man’s respectful but obviously scandal- 
ized scrutiny. Was she a coward that mere 
convention should stand in her way now? 

“I doubt if Mr. Chanler is here, miss.” The 
attendant spoke doubtfully and turned to the 
switchboard, but, just as he plugged in, a man of 
middle age came down the staircase at the other 
side of the elevator cage. He was attired in the 
sober black of a valet and carried two heavy bags. 
“Excuse me, but were you asking for Mr. Chan- 
ler?” he asked. “He’s out of town, miss, for the 


160 


TWO-GUN SUE 


week-end ; down at the Sandy Cove Country Club. 
Will you leave any message ? ’ ’ 

‘ ‘ No, I — it doesn 9 t matter , 1 9 she stammered. * 6 1 
had a personal message for him, but I can deliver 
it another time . 9 9 

“Very good, miss.” 

He bowed slightly and marched out with his 
bags, and only when she, too, had taken her depar- 
ture and saw him disappearing into a taxi did she 
realize that she had not the remotest idea where 
the Sandy Cove Country Club was. 

The clerk at her hotel, however, supplied the 
information that it was out on Long Island, adding 
data as to trains, and Susanna decided to go there 
at once, although after her recent experience she 
realized that to present herself unsponsored be- 
fore a score of feminine eyes as coldly appraising 
as were those of Daisy Acheson would be more of 
an ordeal than she had contemplated. No excuse 
that she might offer for her intrusion occurred to 
her as she set forth, but her purpose remained 
unchanged; she had come east to get her man, 
and no mere social law, written or unwritten, 
should stand in her path. 

The train was stifling, but a run of a trifle more 
than an hour brought her to a quaint little village 
set in a level plain of fertile farm-lands, with the 
blue waters of the bay dancing in the sunlight 


FEOM THE CLOUDS 161 

beyond. A row of smart-looking station cars and 
spick-and-span taxis were drawn np beside the 
platform, and selecting one of the latter Susanna 
was whirled down the maple-shaded street and out 
upon a broad road flanked by stately villas. 
Despite their velvety lawns and well-spaced vistas 
of landscape gardening they appeared to her west- 
ern eyes to be huddled and cramped within the 
confines of their smugly trimmed hedges and a 
swift longing came upon her for the vast reaches 
of the cow country, mile on mile, with only the 
glistening ribbon of wire to mark the boundaries 
and a clean sweep of wind which brought no acrid 
smoke of cities, nor tang of the sea. 

The small, pretentious estates gave way at 
length to comparatively open country, with only 
an occasional farmhouse and broad fields inter- 
spersed with clumps of woodland, and Susanna 
began to wonder how far the club lay from the 
station, when all at once she became conscious of 
a muffled whirring overhead, which increased to 
a droning roar and an airplane appeared, riding 
as gracefully as a buzzard on the wing. Aircraft 
were not common sights in the cow country and 
the girl watched with interest as the machine 
banked low and turned in a wide sweep to rise 
again like some sentient thing. 

All at once the steady drone changed to a sue- 


162 


TWO-GUN SUE 


cession of sharp reports with breathless seconds 
between, and the plane lurched queerly, banking 
again — this time at what seemed like a perilous 
angle — then righting itself as if by a conscious 
effort. 

Could the flyer be trying out some of the dare- 
devil stunts of which she had heard? Susanna 
stood up the better to see and was unaware that 
her taxi had stopped and the driver, too, was gaz- 
ing aloft, for the plane was almost directly over- 
head now, and it became apparent even to her 
inexperienced eyes that something was indeed 
desperately wrong. 

Struggling as though seeking liberation from 
invisible cords which drew it earthward the plane 
made a last futile effort to rise to a safer level, 
but its engine was silenced and after hanging for 
one hideous moment of suspense it fell nose on 
to the ground. 

Spellbound, Susanna had watched the losing 
fight with every nerve tense, but scarcely had the 
crash of impact reverberated in her ears than she 
bad torn open the door of the taxi and was speeding 
over the meadow to the twisted wreck from which 
dense clouds of smoke arose to mingle with the 
dust cloud. Her driver had followed, and just as 
a tiny red ribbon of flame curled from the tangled 
mass of steel and canvas he seized her arm. 


FROM THE CLOUDS 163 

“ Plane’s afire!” he gasped. “See it? You 
can’t do nothin’ !” 

“The man — the man in there!” Susanna 
wrenched herself free and plunged forward. 
“ We ’ve got to pull him out ! ’ ’ 

i ‘ He ’s strapped in ! You ’d be burnt alive ! ’ ’ the 
fellow sniveled. “Like as not he’s dead, anyway, 
after that fall! Keep away !” 

But Susanna had scarcely heard. She gave him 
one withering backward glance, then dived 
straight into the smoke which billowed in ever 
increasing volume from the distorted heap. A 
stinging pain seared her eyes and invisible bands 
seemed tightening across her breast, but she 
flung herself upon the wreckage, rending and 
clawing at the debris with frantic haste while the 
ominous crackle grew louder and a treacherous, 
fiery tongue lapped ever more near. 

Each laboring breath came now with a stab of 
agony and red hot gimlets were boring into her 
eyes, but she was only subconsciously aware of it, 
for beneath the shattered section of framework, 
which by a mighty effort she had pulled aside, a 
set, colorless face appeared. 

Although there was no sign of life, Susanna 
worked with a surge of almost superhuman 
strength, uncovering the limp, crumpled body and 
tearing at the strap which bound it to the wreck 


164 


TWO-GUN SUE 


of the seat with bleeding fingers. After what 
seemed an interminable time the buckles gave way 
and she slipped her arm beneath the sagging 
shoulders, just as her taxi driver, overcoming his 
craven fear, scrambled up beside her. Together 
they dragged the body clear and carried it out of 
the range of smoke, to lower it gently to the 
ground. 

A huge touring car had driven up at breakneck 
speed and three men piled out of it shouting inar- 
ticulately as they rushed forward. The taxi driver 
ran toward them, but Susanna dropped on her 
knees by the body. Did she dream it, or had the 
pale lips quivered ever so slightly? She tore the 
leather jacket apart and pressed her ear against 
his breast and her own senses thrilled as a faint 
fluttering rewarded her. She raised her head and 
found that a pair of gray eyes, bewildered, but 
surprisingly steady, had opened and were gazing 
straight up into her own. 

u Snipes!” a hoarse voice cried at her side. 
1 1 Snipes, old man ! ’ 9 

i 1 ’Lo . ’ 9 It was a mere breath which issued from 
the prostrate man’s lips, and with it his eyes 
dulled and closed, and Susanna rose and backed 
away as the newcomer took her place. He was an 
exceedingly stout young man with curly, tow- 
colored hair and an upturned nose that would have 


FROM THE CLOUDS 165 

seemed comical were it not for the woe which 
puckered his countenance. 

‘ ‘ Snipes, speak to me ! ’ ’ he implored. ‘ 4 Craigie ! 
Bim ! Somebody get some water ! I knew the old 
bus would stall, damn it, but he wouldn’t listen! — 
Snipes, you’re not done for!” 

1 ‘ Stop yapping, Pete, and get some of this down 
his throat ! ’ ’ The second and third men had come 
up, and the foremost held out a flask. “It will 
take more than that to send old Snipes west! — 
There, he ’ll come around in a minute ! ’ ’ 

“There’s a doctor just down the road.” The 
third man, older and more self-contained than the 
others, spoke with a note of authority. “We’ll 

get him to the car ! ’ ’ 

i ‘ Hey, where ’s the girl ? ’ ’ The stout young man 
called “Pete” stared about in amazement. 
“Didn’t you see her? Regular Amazon, and 
brown as a berry, but a stunner ! She must have 
helped that fellow, whoever he was, to dig Snipes 
out of the wreck ! ’ ’ 

“There was a taxi standing in the road as we 

drove up The second man turned. “Why, 

it’s gone!” 

Save for their own car the road was deserted, 
for taxi and girl had vanished. 


CHAPTER XI 


IN HER HANDS 

H OW she made her way back to the city to her 
hotel Susanna could not afterward remem- 
ber nor did she dimly realize, until the mirror in 
her own room gave back her reflection, what a 
sensation she must have created in the lobby and 
elevator. Torn and draggled, weary and smoke- 
begrimed, with brows and lashes singed and her 
hands mangled, she was indeed a sorry spectacle 
but she wasted little thought upon herself. 

Had the young aviator been fatally hurt? It 
must have seemed despicable of her to run away 
as she had done, but she dreaded notoriety above 
all things, with the imperative need before her of 
keeping herself as inconspicuous as possible until 
her mission was accomplished. As soon as the 
injured man was freed from the wrecked plane 
and in the hands of his friends it had been her first 
instinct to flee and she had peremptorily ordered 
the taxi driver to take her away from the scene. 
But somehow she could not put from her thoughts 
that moment when she had raised her head from 
166 


IN HER HANDS 


167 


the breast of the fallen airman and met the un- 
expected gaze of those gray eyes. Candid, 
straightforward eyes they were, and the mouth 
had looked firm, with an upward, humorous quirk 
at the corners, even though it was drawn with 
pain. 

It could not be that he would die! His body 
had been limp when she dragged it from the 
wreckage but not twisted with the grim gro- 
tesquerie which would tell of shattered limbs, and 
Susanna recalled reading of instances when avia- 
tors fell from almost incredible heights to escape 
unscathed as by a miracle. It might be that save 
for a bad shaking up he was little the worse for 
the accident. 

If she could only know ! It was natural, she told 
herself, that having been instrumental in his res- 
cue she should feel interested in the young man’s 
recovery, and those tense moments when she had 
raced with the smoke and darting flame to liberate 
him had given her a real personal concern as 
though he had been one of her own boys of the 
Circle Six. Almost defensively she dwelt upon 
this thought. 

Would an account of the accident appear in the 
newspapers on the morrow? Would she ever 
learn whether he had survived or not? For the 
first time since the start of her journey her mind 


168 


TWO-GUN SUE 


was far afield from her mission. What ridiculous 
name was it that the young man’s friends had 
called him ? — Oh, yes , 1 ‘ Snipes ” ! He had seemed 
to hear and understand even though he had 
drifted off into unconsciousness again just as she 
slipped away. If she had only waited to hear 
where they were taking him she might have man- 
aged to find out indirectly how his condition was 
progressing. He must never know, of course, 
who the strange girl was who had rescued him! 
It was a blessing that his eyes had rested on hers 
only for a moment and that when his brain was 
yet clouded from the shock of his fall ! if by some 
miracle of coincidence they were ever to come face 
to face it was a comfort to contemplate, at least, 
that he would not recognize her. 

It was too late then to return to Long Island and 
journey to the country club and she felt too 
shaken, even had she been able so quickly to 
rehabilitate her appearance, to face Chanler and 
force the issue. Far better to wait until his return 
to town on Monday and then win her way by some 
strategy into his presence, for the elderly 
Cerberus and the valet would both prove 
obstacles, but when once she and Garrison Chanler 
faced each other she had no doubt as to the out- 
come. 

Sunday was a long-drawn-out tedium of sus- 


IN HER HANDS 


169 


pense, unrelieved even by any reassurance as to 
the victim of the previous day’s accident, for 
although she scanned each page of every news- 
paper obtainable from the stalls no mention 
was made of the fallen plane. In vain she assured 
herself over and over that it was no concern of 
hers; airmen were injured or killed every day, 
and a sterner duty awaited her than mere idle 
speculation as to the fate of this one. 

Almost as soon as the shops opened on the 
following morning she was abroad to replace the 
hopelessly ruined attire which she had worn on 
the previous Saturday. The sullen heat of mid- 
summer beat down upon the city with a stifling 
humidity as the day advanced, and left Susanna, 
at the end of her shopping tour, breathless and 
gasping but consumed with impatience for the 
coming of the hour which she had decided upon 
for her momentous interview with Chanler. By 
afternoon a mass of purple clouds banked heavily 
up in the western sky and a hot wind, precursor 
of the coming storm, swirled suddenly through the 
streets. The girl’s restlessness grew, but she 
forced herself to dress with deliberation and her 
hands did not tremble as once more she tucked 
the small revolver into her girdle. 

Five strokes sounded from the clock in the 
lobby and the first drops of rain fell in an angry 


170 


TWO-GUN SUE 


spatter as she left the hotel and entered a taxi. 
She had still no definite plan for obtaining ingress 
to Chanler’s apartment, but fortune favored her, 
for the seat before the switchboard was vacant 
when she reached the Blandford and the diminish- 
ing whirr of the elevator announced its ascent. A 
handful of letters awaited sorting in a shallow 
tray upon the table in the center of the foyer and 
Susannah glance falling upon them she descried 
that the topmost bore in a large feminine scrawl 
the inscription: — “Mr. H. Garrison Chanler, 
Apartment 2- A, The Blandford. J ’ 

Waiting to read no more, the girl turned and 
darted swiftly up the stairs. If the apartments 
were numbered after the fashion of those in which 
she had visited school friends in Kansas City, 
“2-A” must be the second floor front, and she 
hastened around the first landing and into the 
turn of the second flight of stairs before the now 
descending car should disclose her presence. 

When it had safely passed to the main floor 
Susanna sped up to the second landing and along 
the hall to the door of the apartment which she 
knew must look out upon the Avenue. No bell 
was in evidence but a huge knocker of antique 
bronze had been placed between the two upper 
panels and her hand was lifted to it when she 
paused. 


IN HER HANDS 


171 


A voice which, although no longer raised in an- 
guished accents, was unmistakably familiar to her 
ears, had sounded from the other side of the door. 

“All right now, Snipes? Confound that man 
of yours ! I wish he ’d come ! 1 9 

“Snipes!” For an instant Susannah senses 
reeled, then she pulled herself together sternly. 
Of course she had not heard aright ! 

There followed an indistinguishable murmur in 
a deeper masculine tone and then the first voice 
once more, nearer this time. 

“Tommyrot! I told you that plane would be 
the death of you ! No man could crash as you did 
on Saturday and get off with a mere strain! I 
hate like the devil to leave you, but I’ve got to 
toddle along to motor out to that infernal dinner. 
See you later at the club, if you feel up to it.” 

Footsteps sounded down the inner hall and 
Susanna had only time to slip up the stairs and 
conceal herself around the first turning when the 
door opened. Peering cautiously from behind the 
corner of the screening elevator shaft she beheld 
the stout, curly-haired young man with the 
absurdly tip-tilted nose who had been the first of 
the belated trio in the huge motorcar to arrive 
upon the scene of the rescue two days before on 
that never-to-be-forgotten moment. He paused 
for a final word to someone within ; then the door 


172 


TWO-GUN SUE 


closed and he advanced and rang the elevator bell. 

Susanna stood motionless while the car ascended, 
received its burden and started downward once 
more. She could not doubt the evidence of 
her eyes and ears ! That must be the right apart- 
ment, for the number had been plainly lettered 
above the knocker ; she had recognized the depart- 
ing visitor and he had been obviously addressing 
his host when he spoke of the “ crash on Satur- 
day’ 7 and called him by the same name he had 
used then. The man she had saved was Garrison 
Chanler ! 

It could not be ! A revulsion of feeling such as 
she had never known swept over her, leaving her 
cold and trembling so that she could scarcely 
stand. She did not stop to ask herself why she 
was so fiercely loath to accept the fact that the 
aviator was the man she had come so far to seek, 
nor why she so instinctively combated the truth 
now. 

Out of the chaos of her thoughts the event of 
two days before flashed once more in detail across 
her mental vision and she found one point upon 
which to congratulate herself. If the almost unbe- 
lievable were true, it was fortunate that in the 
brief moment when their eyes met the half- 
stunned man had been still lingering on the 
borderland of unconsciousness and could have no 


IN HER HANDS 


173 


memory of her presence, much less her appear- 
ance. His friends had arrived in time to witness 
the rescue, but if later they had told him of it he 
would have no reason when she confronted him 
to connect her with the mysterious girl who had 
taken part in it, and she promised herself 
savagely that he never should know! He would 
never be under other obligation to her or hers 
than that in which his own vile conduct had 
placed him ! 

No wonder little Sylvia had been deceived in 
this Chanler, if he had exerted himself to im- 
press her, when his very appearance had preju- 
diced Susanna herself in his favor to such an 
extent as to make her stand aghast at plain facts ! 
Lee had liked him, too, and Wes, and, although 
the rest of the boys habitually looked a trifle 
askance at a stranger who offered no account of 
himself, none of them had had a word to say 
against him. His duplicity must have been well 
masked, but her eyes were opened and she knew 
him for what he was ! He should find that he had 
no simple, unsophisticated girl to deal with, but a 
woman, a Poindexter, bent upon avenging a stain 
upon an honored and cherished name! 

Yet he had looked so boyish and helpless lying 
there, almost like Lee himself after Jake Brower ’s 
bullets had done their work ! There had been the 


174 


TWO-GUN SUE 


bewildered appeal of a hurt child in his half-con- 
scious gaze ! Angrily and in scathing self- 
contempt she forced the vision from her. Any 
man, no matter how low and despicable his char- 
acter, would evoke pity in his extremity if one 
were not aware of his identity, and even had 
Susanna known she would have gone to his rescue 
in the name of common humanity. But there 
would be no weakness in her attitude toward him 
now. Sylvia’s tear-stained little face, blurred 
in a shimmer of moonlight, arose suddenly before 
her and she vowed anew that for every tear, for 
every moment of corroding shame and bitter 
mental agony, he should pay a hundredfold ! 

How long she had crouched there in the numb- 
ing shock of her discovery, Susanna did not know, 
but at last she crept down from her hiding-place 
to the door which had closed so short a time be- 
fore and, without giving herself time to think, 
she resolutely sounded the knocker. 

Again there came the tread of footsteps, but 
slower and a trifle dragging, and as the door 
swung inward Susanna unconsciously squared her 
shoulders and drew a deep breath. Then she 
looked upward, above the level of her own eyes, 
into a pair of steady, clear gray ones which she 
remembered. They were no longer bewildered 


IN HER HANDS 


175 


with the haze of half -awakened consciousness, but 
frankly surprised at the vision of the strange 
young woman which confronted him. 

“I am afraid — ” he began, but Susanna 
silenced him. 

“Mr. Chanler, I have something to say to you. 
May I come in for a moment, if you please f ” 

With instinctive courtesy he stepped aside. 

“Certainly. You know my name, but I must 
confess !” 

Susanna advanced just within the door, leaving 
space enough to close it behind her, and then stood 
with her back against it while one hand slipped 
to her girdle. 

“I will explain.” She could not help noting 
even in the tenseness of the moment that he was 
pale and hollow-eyed and a twinge as of pain 
passed across his face as he moved, but she 
steeled herself to her purpose. “You have lately 
been in Texas!” 

“I have. I returned only a few days ago.” 
Blank amazement had spread across his features, 
but he replied readily enough. 

“You have been stopping at a small cattle town 
called ‘ Dexter . 7 You know the Circle Six ranch ! 7 7 
It was no longer a question, but an accusation, 
which she hurled at him, with gathering intensity 


176 


TWO-GUN SUE 


in her tone, and in contrast his became quieter 
and more self-contained but his eyes never left her 
face. 

“I have been in Dexter. I know the ranch to 
which you refer. ’ 9 

“ I want you to come back with me.” Deadly 
earnestness rang in her voice. 

“ ‘Back’? — To Texas V 9 he exclaimed in 
astonishment. ‘ ‘ My dear young lady ! , y 

“You know Miss Sylvia Poindexter V 9 Susanna 
uttered the name very low, but distinctly, and the 
man before her drew himself up. 

“Most certainly. But may I ask who you are, 
why you are here and why Miss Poindexter is 
brought into this very extraordinary conversa- 
tion?^ 

“It is to remind you of her that I am here. Her 
father is dead, her brother lying injured and help- 
less, and you thought her quite without protec- 
tion !” 

‘ ‘ Ah ! ’ 9 There was a world of horrified compre- 
hension in the monosyllable, but no suspicion of 
confusion or guilt as Garry Chanler went on rap- 
idly. “Surely you cannot mean 1” 

“I mean this ! Denials and lying evasions will 
avail you nothing! As soon as you are well 
enough you will return with me to the Circle Six 
and there you shall make the only reparation 


IN HER HANDS 


177 


possible for such an act as yours. Yon cannot 
escape the consequences ! 1 9 Susanna ’s hand moved 
ever so slightly and the burnished nose of her 
revolver glinted upward from her hip. “I need 
not explain further, I think. I want your word 
that you will come back as soon as you are able 
to travel . 9 9 

“You are Susanna Poindexter . 9 9 There was a 
thin white line about his lips and the gray eyes 
shot fire but he gestured toward her revolver 
with a slight shrug. “That is entirely unneces- 
sary, let me assure you, and there is no reason for 
delay. I am well enough to travel and absolutely 
at your service. ’ 9 


CHAPTER* XII 


PAROLED IN CUSTODY 

T HE summer shower had settled into a steady 
rain and the tall, slightly pale young man 
waiting patiently in the great station beside one 
of the gateways which led to the trains shook his 
head with an air of finality at the appeal of his 
middle-aged companion. 

4 ‘No, Frank. I tell you it is impossible for me 
to take you along. Get back to the rooms as 
quickly as you can and close the windows; this 

rain will ruin my books ” 

“But, sir, if you’ll only listen to me !” the valet 
pleaded. “You’re not fit to travel, indeed you’re 
not ! How do we know that something isn’t broke 
inside of you, after all? I’ve looked out for you, 
man and boy, for twenty years, and if you must 
go on this trip without warning I ought to be with 
you! What if you’re took sick in some rough, 
wild place ?” 

‘ ‘ I sha ’n ’t be. I ’m expecting a — er — a man here 
for a final word on a business matter and it’s 
nearly train time. ’ ’ The young man ’s eyes swept 

178 


PAROLED IN CUSTODY 


179 


the hurrying crowd somewhat nervously as he 
spoke. “Run along home like a good chap, and 
take care of things until I return. ’ ’ 

“And when’ll that be, sir?” Frank paused 
uncertainly, eyeing his employer with anticipatory 
skepticism. 

Garry Chanler shrugged. 

“I’ll wire you when I can wind up this busi- 
ness. Good-bye, Frank; take care of yourself.” 

He held out his hand and the valet shook it 
gloomily. 

“I must say I hope you will do the same, but I 
have my doubts, sir ! Good-by. ’ ’ 

He turned and elbowed his way through the 
throng and Garry watched his departure with 
amused, affectionate eyes. He had tried the 
faithful soul with many sudden whims and 
vagaries during the years of his service, but no 
doubt Frank thought him crazy at last. Garry 
wondered himself if he were dreaming. Had that 
amazing scene in his apartment a few hours be- 
fore been a mere figment of a fevered brain or was 
he actually on the eve of starting West in the 
virtual custody of an avenging goddess in the 
guise of a stunningly attractive girl? Would Pete 
Bigelow or any of the other fellows believe him 
if he told them that the sedate portals of the Bland- 
ford had been stormed by a young Amazon with 


180 


TWO-GUN SUE 


drawn revolver who demanded his return to 
Dexter to face some mythical charge ? 

Had it not been for her mention of the Circle 
Six, and of Sylvia Poindexter, he would have 
considered the whole affair a silly and ill-timed 
hoax, but that and her deadly seriousness of man- 
ner put a different complexion on the matter. 

What on earth had Sylvia accused him of to 
her sister? He knew that he had left the child in 
a tempest of wounded vanity and pride, and he 
regretted the necessity for it ; but it had been for 
her own good and the only way out of an awkward 
situation which she had brought upon herself. It 
was never his way to seek excuses for himself, and 
reviewing his behavior with an open mind, he 
could not honestly find room for criticism. It had 
been foolish of him, perhaps, to be nice to the 
silly, emotional little thing, but he had been sorry 
for her and sympathized with her discontent at 
her loneliness and isolation. Hang it all, he had 
never had the slightest idea of flirting with her ! 
And now his easy good nature had precipitated 
him into the maddest, most unbelievable sort of 
adventure with a girl he had never seen before ! 

But had he? He was certain that if he had 
encountered her in the roads about Dexter the 
image of her would have been implanted upon his 
memory ; her splendid, flashing eyes, her perfectly 


PAROLED IN CUSTODY 


181 


molded figure, the superb carriage of her head — 
Jove! He could imagine her on a horse! There 
was nothing about her to suggest kinship with 
the delicate blonde prettiness of her sister and 
yet there had been something vaguely familiar, 
too. 

Would she come or would her courage fail her, 
after all, at the prospect of the long journey in 
the company of her prisoner on parole? Garry 
had given his word of honor to meet her here, but 
it was past the time appointed and he shifted 
a trifle wearily from one foot to the other as the 
throbbing in his strained back muscles changed to 
a dull ache. 

He would not give up the adventure for worlds, 
however! At first he had been stunned by her 
implied accusation and speechless with resent- 
ment and wrath at its injustice ; but his sense of 
humor had come to his aid and philosophically he 
had decided to see the thing through. Explana- 
tion or denial would alike be futile now, and the 
ridiculous misunderstanding, distasteful as it was, 
would be quickly straightened out at the jour- 
ney’s end. Meanwhile, Susanna’s pluck and 
indomitable spirit interested him. No wonder 
she had been more than a match for the Achesons 
when she held them up and commandeered their 
car! He remembered her sobriquet, ‘ ‘ Two-gun 


182 


TWO-GUN SUE 


Sue,” and chuckled to himself despite his pain. 
If she came, the next few days promised to hold a 
unique experience. 

Then all at once he caught sight of her shoulder- 
ing her way through the crowd toward him, and 
he straightened. She was game, after all! She 
walked with a long, swinging stride, which made 
the people about her seem to be scurrying ignobly, 
and her small head appeared to tower above 
theirs. Her natural dignity was almost queenly 
in comparison with the stilted hauteur of the girls 
of his own acquaintance, and the admiration in his 
eyes as she approached was as obvious as it was 
unstudied. 

“I am late.” She nodded coolly as she spoke 
and her matter-of-fact tone held no shade of 
expression beyond a brisk, impersonal civility. 
1 ‘ Our reservations are made, however, and we will 
go straight through — Oh!” 

“What is it?” he asked quickly, for there had 
been unmistakable consternation in the sudden 
exclamation. 

1 ‘ My handbag ! I must have left it in the taxi ! ’ y 
In her dismay at the discovery Susanna uncon- 
sciously unbent a trifle. “It had the tickets in it 
and— and everything !— Here, boy, put down that 
bag and see if you can catch the cab I came in ! ” 

Doubtfully the porter deposited the traveling 


PAROLED IN CUSTODY 


183 


bag at her feet and scuttled away and Susanna 
turned abruptly from her companion to hide her 
discomfiture. What a stupid thing to have done ! 
She had always prided herself on her efficiency, 
her self-reliance, and it had failed her now at the 
most crucial moment! During the last few 
crowded hours she had planned every step of 
that triumphant return journey, she had meant to 
show this shameless creature, who had accepted 
her accusation without even attempting a denial, 
that she was as able as any man of her family to 
uphold and defend the name of Poindexter. — And 
now at the outset she had displayed the most 
idiotic feminine weakness by carelessly mislaying 
her bag with the tickets and all her available cash 
for the journey! How he must be laughing at 
her in his sleeve ! 

But there was no derision or even covert amuse- 
ment in his voice when at last he broke the 
silence. 

“Isn’t there something I can do, Miss Poin- 
dexter ?” He advanced a step toward her. “I 
doubt very much that the porter will be able 
to locate your taxi, for they are picked up quickly 
here, and it might take days to trace it. You 
have refused to allow me to defray my own ex- 
penses on this trip, but V 9 

“There is nothing that you can do,” Susanna 


184 


TWO-GUN SUE 


interrupted, annoyance with herself making her 
tone more vehement than she intended. That her 
own stupidity should have given him this oppor- 
tunity to humiliate her was a crowning blow! 
Then the absurdity of the situation was borne in 
upon her and despite her dismay she felt a hys- 
terical impulse to laugh. A self-confessed cul- 
prit — for to her mind silence brought confession 
— paying his own way to the just retribution 
which awaited him ! 

Garry caught the suspicion of a smile which 
lurked for an instant at the corners of her mouth, 
and his own eyes twinkled, but he was careful not 
to let her see it. 

“Awl abo-oard!” The voice of the train 
announcer bawled in their ears just as the porter 
returned dolefully shaking his head. 

“ ’Nother somebody done taken dat cab right 
quick, lady,” he said. “No han’-bag ain’t been 
turned in at de los’-an’-foun’ desk, neider. Sho 
is too bad!” 

Susanna suddenly threw back her head and 
smiled. 

“It really doesn’t matter,” she replied com- 
posedly. “Wait here, please; I will be back in a 
minute. ’ ’ 

The request was seemingly addressed to the 
porter, but Garry recognized it as a command to 


PAROLED IN CUSTODY 


185 


himself, also, and watched her as she made her 
way toward the ticket window in perplexity. 
What was this indomitable young person about to 
do now? 

He had not observed that when the porter 
announced his failure Susanna had inadvertently 
clasped her hands together, but if he had seen the 
gesture he would not have known that it brought 
to her mind a way out of her dilemma. Her left 
hand had closed over the only article of real value 
which she possessed; her mother’s engagement 
ring. Susanna knew that the small diamond in 
its old-fashioned heavy gold setting was flawless, 
and although a pang darted through her heart at 
the thought of parting from it, even temporarily, 
she knew that it must be done. For Sylvia’s 
sake and the family pride, their mother herself 
would have wished it. 

The man at the ticket window demurred at her 
proposition, but she pleaded with desperate earn- 
estness, and finally she. was directed to a nearby 
establishment where the transaction was adjusted 
and she returned to her charge, breathless but 
triumphant, just as the gates were closing. 

Susanna refused Garry’s assistance in boarding 
the train, but he noticed that one of her hands had 
been stripped of its glove, and comprehension 
came to him. She must have placed a jewel — 


186 


TWO-GUN SUB 

perhaps her only one — as security for a loan to 
cover their journey! He had sufficient money in 
his pocket to pay for a dozen such trips ! Con- 
found it, why hadn’t she been sensible and per- 
mitted him to lend it to her ; she might have known 
that he would ultimately compel her to accept the 
amount of his own share, and that he was simply 
humoring her now! Then he realized that her 
present opinion of him must be despicable indeed 
and he groaned in spirit. What a revenge that 
little blonde vixen of a sister of hers had taken 
upon him for flouting her pride! 

The berths had already been made up in the 
sleeper and all but two of them were occupied, 
as the drawn curtains attested. Susanna stopped 
before the first vacant one, near the end of the car 
by which they had entered, and held out a ticket 
and envelope to him. 

‘ ‘ This is yours and here is your berth . 9 ’ She 
spoke in a carefully modulated undertone. “We 
will pay separately but breakfast at the same 
table in the dining-car at eight. I am taking it 
for granted that your word holds good until we 
reach Dexter.” 

“ You will not need further assurance of it,” he 
said gravely, adding : ‘ ‘ Good-night . 9 ’ 

She nodded without other response, and, turn- 


PAEOLED IN CUSTODY 187 

ing, went down the aisle to where the porter stood 
beside her own open berth. 

Garry turned in with a feeling of relief. She 
did not intend to make a public fool of him, any- 
way, though the situation would be awkward 
enough in all conscience; no one whom he knew 
contemplated a Western trip at that time, but the 
world was a small one and some little-suspected 
chance acquaintance might be among their travel- 
ing companions. It was evident that she did not 
trust him sufficiently to have suggested that they 
appear as strangers, and small wonder, under the 
circumstances, but he heartily wished, for her 
sake, that he had made the proposition himself to 
her. Lord, what a position, first one and then the 
other of these sisters, had placed him in ! 

Susanna awoke with the same confused sense of 
unreality which had possessed her on the morning 
after her arrival in New York, but recollection of 
the previous day’s events came almost instantane- 
ously, and she hastily arose. No doubt of Chan- 
ler’s good faith had entered her mind; he might 
be a reprobate and libertine, but somehow she felt, 
without having questioned it, that his word once 
given would be as inviolate as her own. What- 
ever else might be justly held against him, he was 
no coward! 


188 


TWO-GUN SUE 

Garry had been up for an hour and was idly 
turning the pages of a magazine when she came 
toward him. He rose and met her in the aisle, 
conscious of curious eyes raised for a moment 
about them in sudden interest. 

“Goodmiorning.” She greeted him with the 
cool impersonality which was beginning to get 
upon his nerves. He couldn’t expect her to be 
exactly friendly, but if they were to spend the next 
two days in enforced association she might at 
least thaw a little ! Her lips were made for smil- 
ing and her eyes looked as though they were 
capable of softening with a very warm, friendly 
light. She had established an armistice between 
them, anyway, and he would play up. 

“Good-morning.” The formal dignity of his 
tone matched her own. “I trust that you were 
made comfortable.” 

“Quite, thank you.” Bid an irresistible hint 
of a smile touch her lips for an instant, as though 
she had read his thoughts? It passed so quickly 
that he could not be sure. “Shall we go in to 
breakfast?” 

He assented silently and they made their way 
down the aisle to the vestibule, but a sudden lurch 
of the train sent him reeling back against the door 
and Susanna observed with quick misgiving that 
his face whitened and he grimaced as though in 


PAROLED IN CUSTODY 


189 


pain. He had worn that look when she first con- 
fronted him in his own apartment on the previous 
day. What if the airplane accident had injured 
him, after all, and he had been unwilling to ad- 
mit it? 

When they were seated in the dining-car and 
had given their order, she leaned forward across 
the little table. 

“Mr. Chanler, you should not have assured me 
that you were able to travel if you had not fully 
recovered from the effects of your fall. A few 
days* delay would have made no difference.” 
There was a shade of concern in her voice, and — 
Jove ! He had been right about her eyes ! They 
could be friendly enough if she would only let 
down the bars ! 

“I am feeling quite fit, I assure you,” he 
responded. “I wish, though, that you would tell 
me how you knew about the plane? Only three 
friends of mine were there when the accident 
occurred, and they agreed to say nothing about 
it. I — I had a wager on, you see, and I meant to 
have another try to win it . 7 7 

“I overheard someone discussing it with you in 
your apartment in the Blandford yesterday before 
I knocked upon the door,” Susanna explained 
hastily, but a slight color rose in her cheeks. 

“Oh, that was Pete Bigelow! I could not 


190 


TWO-GUN SUE 


imagine how you found me until I remembered 
that I had given your brother my address, of 
course. Miss Poindexter, I want to make a sug- 
gestion if I may.” 

He paused as though uncertain how to continue, 
and Susannah clear, steady eyes did not help. 

“Go on, please.” 

4 4 Should we encounter anyone on the train who 
knows either of us, would it not be — er — expedient 
to say that your brother had entrusted you to my 
escort home? The situation is not usual, you 
know,” he stammered hastily as he saw her lips 
set. 

4 4 Nor, I should like to believe, is the circum- 
stance which brought it about.” The contempt 
in her tone flayed him. 4 4 If you meet any of 
your friends on board you are at liberty to offer 
them any excuse for your journey that you find 
convenient, of course. I do not consider it neces- 
sary to explain or give an account of myself to 
anyone. ’ ’ 

Garry could have shaken her for her wilful 
pride and perversity, but he merely bowed. 

4 4 As you please.” 

The meal proceeded in a frigid silence and at 
its conclusion Susanna remarked as they rose: 

4 4 You will want to find the smoker now, will 


PAROLED IN CUSTODY 191 

you not? I shall lunch at one, but it will not be 
necessary for you ” 

‘ ‘ I'll join you before then, if I may,” he inter- 
rupted hastily, aware all at once of the quizzical 
gaze of a stout, impressive dowager across the 
aisle. ‘ ‘ Have you — er — magazines and things?” 

“ Thank you, I have everything that I require,” 
Susanna replied stonily and he stood aside to let 
her pass. 

But somehow she could not compose herself 
to read, and for the better part of the morning 
sat idly watching the country scud pass the win- 
dow, until the scattered villages merged into a 
smoke-begrimed suburb and the train slackened 
and pulled into a huge, bustling terminal. 

Then she rose and made her way to the end of 
the car but paused suddenly. She had come face 
to face with a young man just scrambling up the 
vestibule steps from the platform ; an exceedingly 
stout young man with light, curly hair showing 
beneath his traveling cap and a comically turned- 
up nose. He averted his eyes at once, but not 
before Susanna had caught a gleam of unmis- 
takable recognition in their depths and as she 
turned and hastened back precipitately to her 
seat a feeling of dismay akin to panic seized her. 

It was Chanler’s friend again! There could be 


192 


TWO-GUN SUE 


no doubt of it, and he had certainly remembered 
her from that first meeting beside the wrecked 
plane! She did not stop to ask herself how it 
could possibly be he when he had passed her 
hiding-place in the corridor of the Blandford on 
the previous afternoon and she had heard him 
announce that he was going to a dinner and after- 
ward to his club. 

One idea alone dominated her thoughts. He 
would, of course, encounter Garrison Chanler; 
that could not be helped, but he must not see them 
together, he must not know that either was aware 
of the other’s presence on the train. If only a 
drawing-room had been vacant where she could 
remain in seclusion! Their own car was filled, 
fortunately, and Susanna determined not to leave 
it for the rest of the day. She had no doubt he 
would blurt out to Chanler that the girl who had 
rescued him was on board, but he must have no 
opportunity to point her out! She would die 
before she would have Chanler know ! 


CHAPTER XIII 


GARRY ASKS HIMSELF A QUESTION 

G ARRY’S after-breakfast cigarette lost its 
flavor before it was half consumed. He threw 
it away and sat staring moodily out of the window 
of the smoker. His strained back throbbed with 
every motion of the train, but he was only sub- 
consciously aware of it in his general dejection of 
mind. After his first natural resentment at the 
accusation against him, he had looked forward to 
the journey in a whimsical spirit of adventure, but 
somehow the zest appeared to have gone out of it 
and his former attitude seemed a bit unworthy in 
his own eyes. 

Though the outcome of the affair had been a 
foregone conclusion, with a contrite Sylvia, a dis- 
comfited Susanna and himself, amused and mag- 
nanimous, as the central figures, it didn’t appear 
so delectable now. It was a devil of a situation 
for a chap with a spark of decency to find himself 
in! He couldn’t see himself in the role of the 
misunderstood but forgiving victim of a child’s 
petty spite, and even when the truth were known 

193 


194 


TWO-GUN SUE 


it would be a pretty difficult task to eradicate 
Susanna’s first impression of him from her tena- 
cious mind. 

And he wanted her to think well of him ! He had 
never wanted anything so tremendously before 
in his life! That was because there had never 
been a girl like her, of course. Since yesterday he 
had been looking at the world, his world, through 
her eyes, and the vision had awakened an entirely 
new set of emotions he hadn’t known that he pos- 
sessed. There had been something rather splendid 
about her serene disregard of convention, some- 
thing in her direct and uncompromising attitude 
toward the situation as she believed it to exist that 
savored of the stern but heroic days of their 
pioneer forefathers. 

In the half-dozen years since he had left the 
university Garry had heartily but evanescently 
been attracted to several successive girls who had 
been placed in his way by opportunist mammas ; 
this one for her camaraderie, that for her profi- 
cient riding and golf and tennis, the others 
because they fitted in acceptably with his mood of 
the moment. Like most normal-minded males, 
exploited intellectuality had bewildered and dis- 
mayed him and sheer beauty had never held him 
for long. 

Susanna had proved anything but a comrade, 


GARRY ASKS HIMSELF A QUESTION 195 

though that was naturally what must he expected 
under the loathsome circumstances ; she presum- 
ably knew the outdoor diversions of his set only 
by name, her character was too positive for her 
tamely to sink her own individuality in another ’s 
mood, and she was not noticeably intellectual nor 
exactly beautiful. And yet in retrospect the 
others seemed inane and almost pitifully unin- 
teresting. 

How she must despise him now as a Lothario, a 
menace to the susceptible affections of unsophis- 
ticated maidens! How she would still despise 
him, when she knew the truth, for spinelessly 
accepting her denunciation and tacitly leading her 
on to think the worst of him! He wriggled and 
then suppressed a groan at the protest of his 
wrenched back. It would be just his luck to be 
laid up at the journey’s end and have her con- 
sider him a physical as well as moral weakling ! 

Why had he tried to fly that wretched old bus, 
anyway? He recalled the sickening fall when the 
earth seemed to rush up as though shot from a 
catapult, and the crash of impact which sent him 
into instant oblivion, to find Pete Bigelow hanging 
over him when he awakened, with a ridiculous tale 
about some girl having pulled him from the wreck. 
There was something queer about that ; of course, 
Pete’s imagination and inverted sense of humor 


196 


TWO-GUN SUE 


were responsible for the yarn, yet the mental sug- 
gestion had been potent enough to conjure up 
before him the vision of a woman’s face. That 
in itself wasn’t so remarkable, but the face, nebu- 
lous as it had been, had somehow taken on in his 
thoughts a likeness to that of Susanna Poindexter. 

Garry was so lost in his disconsolate reverie 
that he had not heeded the halt of the train at a 
city nor noted when it started again, save by the 
renewed ache in his spine. 

Ah, well, the situation couldn’t be mended now 
by grouching over it ! Garry got up at last and 
wandered through to the observation car only to 
find it deserted, and he dropped gloomily into a 
chair. He must go on to the end, cut as decent a 
figure as he could when the denouement came, and 
then efface himself with all speed. Lee Poindexter 
was a sensible kid and he would understand and 
do what he could to mitigate the awkwardness of 
the occasion, but that was all he could hope for ; 
Susanna could never regard him with anything 
but contempt. 

Lost in the rumble of the train, the door at the 
end of the car had opened and closed, and a stout 
young man made his way down the aisle. He 
glanced indifferently at the back of Garry’s head 
and then away, and it was not until he turned and 


GARRY ASKS HIMSELF A QUESTION 197 

started to retrace his steps that he stopped in 
unutterable astonishment. 

Garry looked up, then sprang from his chair, 
and for a moment the two friends eyed each other 
in half -incredulous recognition. 

“What the devil are yon doing here, Snipes !” 
The stout young man exploded at last. 

“Pete!” Garry passed his hand across his 
forehead. “Lord, I thought at first that I was 
seeing things. Where in the world did you drop 
from?” 

“That’s what I want to know about you,” the 
other retorted as he sat down heavily in the next 
chair. “When I got back to the house yesterday 
afternoon after leaving you in your rooms I found 
that Dad and that merger crowd had chartered a 
special to leave at six for Pittsburgh and he 
wanted me to go along. I haven ’t been in very 
good standing with the old man lately because 
some bookmaker has been beefing, so I jumped 
at the chance to get in solid once more. Now he 
has shipped me on to St. Louis to see a man for 
him, and Heaven knows when 1 11 hit the Big Town 
again. How is it that you’re gadding off to the 
West without a word to anybody?” 

“I had an unexpected message, just after you 
left me, in connection with the matter which took 


198 


TWO-GUN SUE 


me to Texas before and it was necessary for me 
to return at once and look into it personally,” 
Garry replied glibly enough, for during his 
friend’s somewhat lengthy explanation he had had 
time to formulate his own. His feeling of panic 
at the sudden complication which Pete ’s presence 
created was akin to that of Susanna, but from a 
far different cause. What if his companion dis- 
covered that he was traveling in the company of 
a strange girl? Pete was a confoundedly gre- 
garious animal; it would be impossible to lose 
him for five minutes at a time. He foresaw hours 
of embarrassment ahead. 

If the situation had been awkward before, it 
was unbearable now. They had been roommates 
at school and the university, and intimates ever 
since, but Garry found himself regarding the 
other’s cheerful countenance now with positive 
aversion. Somehow Susanna must be kept in the 
background. 

But what if she missed him and came looking 
for him? She thought him a despicable, untrust- 
worthy cad; suppose she took it into her head 
that he might have broken his word and left the 
train at Pittsburgh? She might enter the 
observation car at any moment. 

“Well, it’s lucky.” Pete settled back in his 
chair and beamed contentedly. “Thought I’d 


GARRY ASKS HIMSELF A QUESTION 199 

have to worry along somehow by myself unless 
I could pick up some chaps in the smoker for a 
little game. How is that sprained back of 
yours ? ’ ’ 

“Oh, all right,” Garry responded in an absent 
tone. “Let’s go into the smoker for awhile any- 
way; I want a cigarette.” 

His friend’s words had given him an inspira- 
tion. The smoker! Susanna couldn’t very well 
seek him there. 

“A cigarette? You want some chow, you 
mean; it’s lunch time,” Pete remarked. 

“I — I’m not hungry,” protested Garry feebly. 

“Nonsense! Thought you looked a little pale 
around the gills. It was a fool thing for you to 
start off like this without having the doctor look 
you over again. You don’t think there may be 
anything wrong that he didn’t discover, do you?” 

His fat face was puckered with quick solicitude 
and Garry felt a shade of compunction for his 
irritation. 

“Of course not!” he retorted shortly, to hide 
his real feeling. “Don’t be an ass, Pete. Didn’t 
I come out of it all right?” 

“Yes, but sometimes you don’t feel the effects 
of a fall like that for some time afterward. ’ ’ Pete 
shook his curly head. “Lord, I shall never for- 
get the sight of that plane diving nose down. I 


200 


TWO-GUN SUE 


thought we should never reach the spot, and I 
was sure you were a goner when I saw you lying 
there, and the girl — by Jove, I forgot.’ ’ 

“ Forgot what?” demanded Garry testily for 
the other had halted as though words failed him. 
“I wish you’d cut out that idiotic story about a 
girl. You can ’t kid me, Pete . ’ ’ 

“But she’s here. Bight on this train. I ran 
into her as I climbed aboard. ’ ’ Pete ’s round eyes 
shone with excitement. “I forgot all about it in 
my surprise at seeing you. ’ ’ 

1 i Here ! ’ ’ Garry shrugged in derision. * * You ’ve 
carried your idea of a joke just about far 
enough ” 

‘ ‘ But she is on board, I tell you, ’ ’ Pete insisted. 
“I’d know her again in a million. Big gray eyes 
and brown hair — lots of it, — and carries herself 
like a little queen, though she isn’t exactly little, 
either. What ’s more, she ’s got on the same hat, 
dark blue with little white wings all over it ; I ’ve 
tagged around to milliners enough with Natalie 
to know. But what ’s the matter ? Have you seen 
her, too? You swore you didn’t recall a thing 
about her.” 

Garry mumbled a hasty disclaimer, but his 
senses suddenly reeled. Gray eyes, brown hair, 
queenly bearing — and the hat. The hat with the 
little white wings. Good Lord, was he going 


GARRY ASKS HIMSELF A QUESTION 201 

crazy! Had the girl been a reality, after all, and 
that reality Susanna! 

“I think she recognized me, too,” Pete went on, 
serenely unconscious of the impression his dis- 
closure had made. “I would have been willing 
to wager that a sort of light came into her eyes 
before she turned away.” 

“She was probably admiring your manly 
form. ’ ’ Garry tried to speak banteringly, but his 
throat felt oddly dry. 

“Go on, laugh at me if you want to,” Pete 
retorted. “I tell you I saw her and it’s the same 
girl, and I am going to take a walk through the 
train later. I wonder who she’s traveling with; 
I might know them.” 

“You might!” Garry assented, with an 
emphasis that was lost upon his companion. The 
question was pounding into his brain with every 
rhythmic revolution of the car wheels: Was it 
Susanna! Was it! She had known of the acci- 
dent to the plane, although they had no mutual 
friends and not an inkling of it had reached the 
press. Of course that conversation had taken 
place in his apartment, but Pete had gone before 
her arrival. 

“It’s a mighty strange coincidence, anyway,” 
his companion went on equably. “Perhaps she 
has seen you, too, and recognized you. Aren’t 


202 


TWO-GUN SUE 


you at all curious? I should think you would 
want to have a look at her, at least.’ ’ 

“Pete, if you are entertaining any hope that 
you are going to lead me up to a perfectly strange 
young woman and hear me thank her for saving 
my life, you are scheduled to be disappointed,” 
Garry said firmly. “I’ve got business in Texas, 
and I don’t propose to have her call the conductor 
and cause me to be put off the train as a dangerous 
lunatic. I’m not ungrateful and I would give a 
good deal to find the lady, if she really exists, 
but I’ve got to have surer proof of her identity 
than your first hasty impression. Heaps of girls 
have gray eyes and brown hair, and nine out of 
ten women wear dark blue when they travel. If 
we happen to run across her before we reach St. 
Louis I’d like to have you point her out to me, 
of course, but don’t let her see you do it.” 

“All right.” Pete assented with an injured 
air. “I’ve got eyes in my head and I know 
what I ’m talking about, but have it your own way. 
I know I wouldn’t pass up such a heaven-sent 
opportunity if I were in your boots, for this girl 
certainly is a wonder. Come on, let’s go to 
lunch. ’ ’ 

Garry rose. There was no use deferring it any 
longer and Susanna had as much as told him that 
she did not desire his company at luncheon. If 


GARRY ASKS HIMSELF A QUESTION 203 

she were in the dining-car he would be compelled 
to ignore her, but, seeing him with another man, 
she ought to understand that the very contretemps 
which he mentioned that morning had taken place. 
He would escape at the first opportunity and 
explain the situation to her; that was the only 
course to pursue. 

But Susanna was not in the dining-car, nor did 
she appear during the long hour while he sat 
playing with his food and watching Pete wade 
placidly through everything on the menu. Suppose 
she were waiting for him? He had said that he 
would join her before lunch time and she had not 
refused him permission ; was she relying upon his 
word? 

He grew more and more ill at ease and Pete’s 
attempts to arouse him from his ill-humor drove 
him to the verge of madness. Back of his imme- 
diate anxiety, however, there loomed that ever- 
insistent question: Was Susanna the girl who 
had saved him? Only Pete could answer, and the 
fathead was sitting there gorging himself, as 
though food were the paramount thing in exist- 
ence. How could he break away long enough to 
find Susanna and explain his defection? 

The opportunity came when Pete ordered a 
second portion of ice cream. 

“Look here, old man!” Garry leaned forward 


204 


TWO-GUN SUE 


with specious geniality. “I’ve just remembered 
some papers in my bag that I don’t want to leave 
around loose. I’ll get them and join you in the 
smoker right away; perhaps we can dig up a 
couple of chaps for bridge.” 

Pete nodded. 

“Won’t be long. I’ll be with you in about five 
minutes.” 

Garry hastened into the next car and found 
Susanna in her seat, and so deeply immersed in 
her book that she did not glance up at his ap- 
proach, although it seemed that a faint color 
tinged her smooth cheeks beneath the tan. 

“Miss Poindexter.” He halted beside her and 
spoke so low that his voice was scarcely audible 
above the rattle of the train. “I meant to join 
you before this, but it was impossible. An inti- 
mate friend of mine got on board at Pittsburgh 
and I couldn’t have gotten away from him with- 
out the explanations of which you disapprove.” 

Susanna raised calm eyes. 

“There was no reason why you should,” she 
retorted coolly, although her heart was racing 
like a trip-hammer. They had met already. 
How much did he know, or guess? “We do not 
change cars until we reach St. Louis.” 

“But have you lunched?” 

“Of course. I had it brought here.” She 


GARRY ASKS HIMSELF A QUESTION 205 

dropped her eyes to her book once more as though 
the conversation were ended, but he still lingered. 

“ There — there isn’t anything that you would 
like me to do for you?” Garry stammered miser- 
ably. He was looking straight down at the blue 
hat with the little white wings. Was she f 

“No, Mr. Chanler.” There was unmistakable 
dismissal in her tone. “Please don’t concern 
yourself about me; I am quite accustomed to 
traveling alone and taking care of myself. Your 
friend will be waiting for you.” 

But Pete wasn’t. He had finished his dessert, 
paid the check and walked through the smoker, 
but not finding Garry there he had started in 
search of him. At that precise moment he was 
standing spellbound at the end of their car, taking 
in the scene before him with protruding eyes and 
dropped jaw, and had Garry looked up then his 
question would have been answered. But he did 
not, and the next instant Pete had turned abruptly 
and vanished. 


CHAPTER XIV 


* 1 WHILE EAST IS EAST ! ” 

W HEN Garry entered the smoking car he 
found Pete already seated and staring out 
of the window with elaborate pre-occupation. 

“Had quite a hunt for those papers, but I found 
them,” he announced with specious mendacity. 
“What’s up, Pete? You look as though you had 
eaten the canary.” 

Pete had turned as Garry seated himself oppo- 
site, and his round face flushed, but he responded 
with dignity : 

“Nothing at all. I’ve been thinking that I 
ought to get to work on some papers that Dad 
gave me to look over before I meet his man to- 
morrow.” 

Garry stared. Everybody seemed to be turn- 
ing him down this afternoon. 

“Don’t tell me you’re going in for business 
with a capital B!” he exclaimed. “How long is 
this spasm going to last?” 

“I don’t know. A fellow’s got to be serious 
once in a while, and I’ve made more kinds of a 
206 


“WHILE EAST IS EAST !” 207 

fool of myself than the average.” There was a 
trace of bitterness in Pete ’s tone. 

“Why the sudden fit of remorse?” inquired 
Garry. “Too much lunch? I warned you .” 

“Oh, cut it,” the other cried in exasperation. 
“You were grouchy enough yourself all through 
lunch. If you’d given me a hint that I was de 
trop ” 

“Look here, Pete, what are you driving at?” 
Garry was instantly serious. 

“Nothing.” Pete turned again to the window. 
“How was I to know I was butting in? If you 
hadn’t been so darned secretive .” 

‘ ‘ Don ’t be an ass. ’ ’ Garry had done some quick 
thinking. “You saw me speak to a young lady 
in the next car just now? Met her in Texas; I 
know her brother there.” 

“Indeed?” Pete’s tone was meant to be bit- 
ingly ironic, but he could not sustain the pose. 
“Who’s trying to kid now? Oh, I don’t doubt 
that you knew the lady and her brother in Texas. 
It’s funny, that’s all, that you didn’t recognize 
her on Saturday and denied her existence ever 
since, but it’s your own affair. We’ve shared 
everything from Second Readers to shrapnel, but 
if you wanted to hold out on me now you might 
at least have shut me up before lunch when I was 
raving like an idiot.” 


208 


TWO-GUN SUE 


“You didn’t recognize her on Saturday.” The 
phrase sang in Garry’s ears and he did not hear 
another word of his friend’s speech. So it was 
Susanna, after all. But was Pete absolutely 
certain? 

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” he 
retorted defensively. ‘ ‘ Miss Poindexter has been 
visiting friends in New York, she tells me, and 
I did not even know she was in the East until 
she boarded the train. If you imagine that she 
is the girl .” 

Pete turned a cold eye upon him. 

“Snipes, don’t insult my intelligence, whether 
you are willing to credit me with any or not. If 
I’m not supposed to have seen her drag you out 
of that wrecked plane and then kneel beside you 
with her head on your chest, why, I didn’t that’s 
all. It isn’t my affair. I guess I can trust the 
evidence of my own eyes, though.” 

“I wonder if you can, old man,” Garry said 
very gravely. “Would you be willing to take 
an oath that she was the girl you saw? I want 
you to be dead certain before you speak, for I 
swear I told you the truth. I wasn’t conscious 
of any girl’s presence after the old bus dropped; 
I thought until today that you were joking, and 
even when you told me that she was on the train 


“WHILE EAST IS EAST !” 209 

I didn’t connect her at first with Miss Poin- 
dexter. ’ ’ 

1 i Holy Cat ! ’ ’ Pete ’s eyes widened. ‘ ‘ What a 
situation ! Of course, it ’s the same girl ; I ’d swear 
it on a stack of bibles. But didn’t you say any- 
thing about it to her just now?” 

1 ‘ There must be lots of other girls on the train 
and I couldn’t be sure that you had referred to 
her until this minute, could I ? ” Garry temporized. 
“I haven’t the least intention of mentioning it 
either, until we get to Texas ! That is, if I happen 
to be in her neighborhood again.” 

“You’re not going to let her know that you 
know?” Pete demanded incoherently. “Of all 
the ungrateful fish .” 

“It isn’t that; you don’t understand,” Garry 
protested. 

“No. I’ll confess that I don’t,” retorted Pete 
with emphasis. “I know that if a girl like that 
risked her life to save mine I would have the 
common decency to say ‘ thank you,’ but nobody 
ever did.” 

“Can’t you see?” Garry explained. “You told 
me yourself that she disappeared as soon as you 
came and before she knew I’d recovered con- 
sciousness, and that shows that she didn’t want 
me to recognize her; I’m certainly not going to 


210 


TWO-GUN SUE 


embarrass her now by referring to it. She’s 
dreadfully shy,” he added on a swift inspiration. 
‘ 1 She looks self-contained and all that, but I have 
never been able to get more than two words out 
of her. She has never been off her brother’s 
ranch before, I understand, and she has a perfect 
horror of meeting strangers. That’s why I 
haven’t asked permission yet to present you.” 

‘ ‘ Don’t trouble,” Pete said loftily. “I’ve got 
to put in a lot of work on those papers, anyway ; 
I won’t have any too much time before tomorrow 
to get the dope straight on them. ’ ’ 

“Well,” Garry got to his feet, glad of a chance 
to escape. He wanted to get away somewhere 
with his own thoughts. “I’ll look you up later 
and maybe we can have that rubber. ’ ’ 

He made his way back to his own car, but 
Susanna did not look up as he passed her and 
when he reached his seat he fished a magazine 
at random from his bag and then sat with it 
unopened, gazing with unseeing eyes out of the 
window. 

Convinced of Pete’s sincerity he could still 
scarcely credit the truth. Susanna had saved his 
life at the hazard of her own. Of course, she 
hadn’t known then who he was, but the fact that 
she would have taken precisely the same risk for 
any other stranger didn’t militate against the 


“WHILE EAST IS EAST !” 


211 


obligation under which he was placed. How dis- 
gusted she must have been when she learned that 
the man she had come to take back to Texas at 
the point of a gun, if necessary, was the aviator 
who had fallen at her feet. 

But how and when had she learned his identity? 
It must have been sometime between Saturday 
and Monday afternoon when she presented her- 
self at the Blandford. Then another thought 
came to him. What if she had seen him some- 
where around Dexter and recognized him when 
she pulled him from the wreck? That must be 
the explanation; that was why she had disap- 
peared so quickly, so that she might not have to 
listen to his expression of gratitude. Well, he 
would spare her that, at least, until they reached 
the Circle Six and explanations were in order. 
It was a satisfaction to know that he could render 
her that small service even though she were un- 
aware of it. By why had the fates not been kind 
and brought them together in Dexter? Why had 
he been idiot enough to sympathize with that little 
minx of a sister of hers and let her put him in 
this outrageous position? 

He had heard somewhere that people were sup- 
posed to feel kindlily toward those for whose con- 
tinued existence a brave effort of theirs was 
responsible; would Susanna ever come to feel 


212 


TWO-GUN SUE 


kindly toward him? She had knelt beside him 
with her head upon his breast, and he had lain 
there supine, unconscious of it. 

But had he been? He recalled that impression, 
vague and shadowy but persistent, of a woman’s 
face close to his own. No wonder it had come to 
take on a semblance of that of Susanna. If only 
it had been clearer. 

He roused himself with an impatient movement 
and opened the magazine. What was the use of 
milling it over and over in his mind? Of course, 
it was a humiliating position to find himself in, 
it wouldn’t be exactly pleasant for any right- 
minded chap to be accused of philandering with 
the affections of an unsophisticated young girl, 
and he might just as well make up his mind to 
it that Susanna would never look at him with any- 
thing but contempt, even when she knew the truth. 

Why should he care so tremendously what she 
thought of him? They belonged to different 
worlds, she of the West and he of the East, and, 
though their traditions were fundamentally the 
same, their training and environment had placed 
them as far apart as the poles. When this hideous 
misunderstanding had been threshed out he would 
shake the dust of Texas from his feet forever and 
their paths would never cross again. He would 
go back and take up his work, and ride and play 


“WHILE EAST IS EAST !” 


213 


bridge and dance and flirt his way through season 
after season of debutante crops, each one a replica 
of the other, until his hair grew thin and he be- 
came one of the old guard who formed the back- 
ground of opera boxes and the mainstay of wall- 
flowers. Lord, what a prospect. 

Had he possessed eyes in the back of his head 
Garry might have seen that Susanna was not so 
engrossed in her book as she appeared. She had 
been acutely conscious of him when he passed her 
and more than once her eyes strayed to where 
he sat, their gray depths clouded with a question. 
Did he know? Could it be that he was generous 
enough not to speak of it under the present cir- 
cumstances? It did not seem consistent that a 
lady-killer, a creature who looked upon all women, 
even a simple child like Sylvia, as legitimate prey 
would possess finer feeling, yet he had made her 
distasteful task as easy as he could so far. He 
had been deference itself and not by word or look 
had he given the slightest indication of the char- 
acter which she had conjured up in her thoughts. 
Could it be that he was really as bad as Sylvia 
had painted him? For the first time a little 
shadow of doubt crept into Susanna’s mind. 
What if she had misunderstood Sylvia’s words, 
had placed a wrong construction upon a childish 
outburst which really meant nothing. 


214 


TWO-GUN SUE 


But, no. Her unexpected appearance had sur- 
prised him, but not her accusation ; he had taken 
it too quietly for that, and he had attempted no 
denial because he must have realized that it would 
be useless. What a pity ! There was something 
likable about him, Susanna was forced to admit 
that to herself, something boyish and seemingly 
straightforward and sincere that' would have 
deceived anybody who was not forewarned of 
what must be his true character. 

It had even been difficult for her to maintain 
her attitude of stony aloofness in the face of his 
wistful attempts to placate her, but that was all 
just a part of his game, of course. Susanna gave 
herself a little mental shake. Why should she 
try to find excuses for the man. Where was her 
loyalty, her family pride! In a previous genera- 
tion he would have been shot down without an 
opportunity to explain or atone, and rightfully, 
too. There was no reason why she should weaken 
and feel sorry for him just because he had lain 
helpless and suffering at her feet. He deserved 
no mercy, and yet — why had he turned out to be 
what he was! 

The afternoon waned and when the first dinner 
call came Susanna hurriedly ordered hers brought 
to her. She would not give him another oppor- 


“WHILE EAST IS EAST !” 215 

tunity to court a refusal. Why hadn’t he joined 
that odious fat friend of his, anyway? 

Her meal was before her on a narrow table 
when he passed with merely a gravely courteous 
bow. She had eaten little lunch, in her agitation 
at “Pete’s” unexpected appearance on the scene, 
but she felt now as though the food choked her 
and an intense loathing of the part she was play- 
ing came over her. It was her duty, she told 
herself sternly ; she had but carried out the tradi- 
tions of her family, but her anticipated triumph 
was as dust and ashes in her mouth. 

Garry meanwhile had routed out a bored and 
lonely Pete and carried him off to dinner, but for 
the first time in their lives a slight barrier had 
reared itself between them and awkward silences 
fell which neither could bridge without obvious 
effort. In mutual self-defense they joined a game 
of stud in the smoking car after the uncomfortable 
meal was over and it was late when they broke up. 

“It will be cooler tonight, anyway,” Pete 
remarked, as they paused for a moment in the 
vestibule of the car, before separating. “Hear 
that thunder? It looks as though we were riding 
straight into the teeth of a storm.” 

“It’s likely to be a bad one.” Garry nodded. 
“Hope we don’t strike a washout.” 


216 


TWO-GUN SUE 

4 4 There’s small chance of that at this time of 
year,” remarked Pete. “ ’Night. You change 
at St. Louis, don’t you?” 

“Yes. By Jove, that lightning is sharp, isn’t 
it? I’ll see you before we reach the station in 
the morning.” 

To Susanna, lying sleepless in her berth, the 
storm came as a welcome diversion from her 
thoughts. She had weathered too many northers 
in Texas to feel any apprehension and the roll 
of thunder and play of jagged forks of lightning 
like tongues of white fire through a rift in her 
curtains brought a sense of relieved tension to 
her taut nerves. The rain drove in swirling 
sheets against the window and the wind rose above 
the roar of the train which rocked and swayed 
with increased momentum as though fleeing from 
the path of the storm. Somewhere within the car 
a baby awoke and wailed thinly, and nervous 
feminine voices arose. 

Susanna lay quiet amid the subdued hubbub, 
but despite herself her thoughts strayed again to 
Chanler. Was he sleeping through it all? He 
had not approached her since her rebuff of the 
afternoon and he would probably not do so until 
the time came to change at St. Louis. She was 
relieved by his attitude, of course ; it would have 
been odious if he had forced his insufferable at- 


“WHILE EAST IS EAST l” 


217 


tentions upon her for the sake of what their fellow 
travelers might think, and he had doubtless been 
just as glad himself when her manner tacitly freed 
him from her society. Naturally he hated her 
as the Nemesis which had dogged him and brought 
him back to retribution. Yet there had been no 
dislike in his voice, and his eyes, although there 
was nothing abject in their expression, had 
reminded her uncomfortably of those of a friendly 
dog unjustly repulsed. 

A sharper, crackling peal of thunder broke in 
upon her thoughts and the train lurched and slid 
for a space as the shrieking wheels sought to 
regain their grip upon the rails. Had they been 
struck? Susanna raised her hand to turn on the 
light when a hideous detonation fairly split her 
ears and she could feel herself lifted bodily into 
space. Then, in a jumble of rending wood and 
strange, animal-like cries something descended 
upon her with crushing force and the world was 
blotted out. 

It was a dream, of course. That was the first 
vague thought which came to Susanna, but why 
didn’t she waken? It was strange that she could 
imagine so vividly those cold drops beating down 
upon her face like rain, and she wanted very much 
to open her eyes, but something seemed to hold 


218 


TWO-GUN SUE 


the lids down and a numbing lethargy encom- 
passed her limbs. 

Queer sounds, hoarse but subdued like far-away 
shouting, came confusedly to her ears, but nearer, 
so near that she could almost feel a breath upon 
her face, a low tone, shaken with emotion yet 
oddly familiar, seemed repeating something over 
and over. What was that about “East and 
West”? 

Instinctively Susanna struggled to waken, to 
hear, to respond, and then all at once the words 
came to her clearly and distinctly : 

“You’ll never know it, but I love you. I 
shall love you while East is East and West is 
West.” 

It was a dream, indeed, for the voice was the 
voice of Garrison Chanler. 


CHAPTER XV 


A DEEAM STILL-BORN 

W HEN Susanna awakened in very truth the 
dream was so vividly implanted on her con- 
sciousness that for some time she lay going over 
its every detail in her memory. It was odd that, 
though it had been so vague and confused, the 
impressions that it left were as startlingly dis- 
tinct as though she had actually lived through 
such a scene. She seemed again to hear Garrison 
Chanler’s voice in her ears, she who had heard 
those words from no man in all her life. By what 
strange process of imagining had it been he, of 
all people, whose voice had come to her? 

She could feel her face grow hot at the very 
thought and turned to bury it in the pillow when 
the pungent fragrance of dried lavender assailed 
her nostrils, mingled with a sharper, sweetish 
odor, and the bed seemed suddenly to have grown 
much softer than the berth had been. It was 
quiet, too ; the motion of the train had ceased and 
nothing broke the stillness but a cheerful little 
buzzing like that of a bee . 

219 


220 


TWO-GUN SUE 


Susanna opened her eyes and gasped. She was 
lying in a wide, old-fashioned bed with tall, curly 
posts, and a whitewashed wall sloped sharply 
down beyond its foot, broken by a gabled window. 
It was hung with gay chintz curtains blowing in 
a sunny breeze and through them she could see 
a mass of waving green foliage while a fat bumble- 
bee nosed inquisitively at the screen. 

She wasn't dreaming still. Susanna wriggled 
experimentally and then sat up to make sure. 
She was most certainly awake and in a strange 
house, but how had she come to be here and where 
was 4 ‘ here," anyway? She had gone to bed on 
the train and the thunderstorm had come, and 
then a crash and after that her dream . . . 

But had it been a dream, after all? How much 
of it had been reality? The rain falling upon her 
upturned face, the distant shouts, the strange 
lethargy which had weighed her down, Garrison 

Chanler's voice in her ears . But the last 

must have been sheer delirium, of course. She 
had been ill, hurt 

Yet she wasn't hurt, she hadn't an ache or a 
pain. Susanna felt of her head and drew one 
knee up after the other, then sat hugging them 
meditatively. There had been an accident, that 
much was clear, but she had no memory of extri- 
cating herself from it. She might conceivably 


A DREAM STILL-BORN 


221 


have fainted, but she had always thought that 
fainting meant temporary oblivion, not the 
freakish, distorted fancies of a sick brain. 
Chanler could not have been near, she had only 
imagined his voice, and yet how it seemed to echo 
still in her ears. 

Where was he now? Great heavens, she had 
rescued him from one wreck only to precipitate 
him into another. Was he lying even now pinned 
down and helpless in the debris of the demolished 
train, or — or dead, perhaps? 

Cold hands seemed clutching at her throat as 
Susanna sprang from the bed, but she was forced 
to seize one of its spiral posts for support as the 
room darkened for a moment and everything 
appeared to be whirling around her. Then the 
faintness passed and as her vision cleared and 
the roaring in her ears subsided she heard a mas- 
culine voice from the other side of the thin wall. 

“That claim agent is a bird. My beauty may 
not be damaged to any visible extent, but if he 
thinks the road isn’t going to pay me for waltzing 
into St. Louis this evening in a pair of overalls 
and a mackintosh he’s got another guess coming. 
And Dad is a bondholder, too — Wow!” 

Assuredly that was the voice of the fat young 
man, again. Not even a catastrophe could sep- 
arate them for long from the ubiquitous Mr. Peter 


222 


TWO-GUN SUE 


Bigelow. There could be only one person in that 
farmhouse to whom he would speak so familiarly 
and Susanna waited tensely to hear the reply. 

“Soft pedal, Pete. You may disturb her. We 
don’t know yet ” 

The tone, lowered at first, dwindled to an indis- 
tinguishable murmur but Susanna had heard 
enough to relieve her anxiety and she smiled to 
herself as she turned to dress. Chanler was close 
at hand and he too must be unhurt or his friend 
would not have been talking cheerful nonsense. 

But how was she to dress? There was not a 
vestige of apparel in the room except a nightgown 
and an unfamiliar bathrobe of masculine cut, both 
rainsoaked and tom to ribbons. For the first 
time Susanna glanced down at herself to discover 
that she was clad in a straight garment of coarse 
white cotton with crocheted work about the neck 
and wrists, and the full force of “Pete’s” re- 
marks came home to her. Were all their belong- 
ings lost in the wreck? Must she wire home, after 
all, to Wes or Lee? 

While she stood pondering, a flat-footed step 
sounded on the creaking boards outside and the 
doorknob turned softly. A woman looked cau- 
tiously in and smiled broadly when she saw the 
girl standing before her. She was a buxom, rosy- 
cheeked woman of middle-age with thick braids 


A DREAM STILL-BORN 


223 


of tow-colored hair wound coronet-fashion around 
her head and when she spoke it was with a pro- 
nounced accent. 

“You bane better? Dat’s nice. You should 
have coffee now, and some clothes. I guess I fix 
you pretty good. ’ 1 

“You are very kind, ,, Susanna replied. 
“Where is this, please, and can you tell me what 
has happened? I suppose our train must have 
been wrecked?” 

“It vas a freight first dat went off de rails.” 
The beaming face clouded and the woman shook 
her head. “Always I vas afraid ven my man 
vorked on de road, before ve got dis farm. Your 
engineer could not to see de signals in de storm 
and ven he hit de freight all your cars joost pile 
up beside de track, but only a few bane hurt, t’ank 
God. Your br odder and his friend, dey bring you 
here.” 

Her brother! Garrison Chanler had had the 

effrontery . Then she realized that he must 

have given such an explanation in order to shield 
her and perhaps remain near. It had been 
thoughtful, of course, but why had a perverse 
fate given him this opportunity to render her a 
service? She wanted nothing from him, nothing. 
Her task would have been far easier if he had 
accompanied her unwillingly and been sullen and 


224 


TWO-GUN SUE 


resentful; now it would be doubly difficult to 
maintain her attitude. There could be no doubt 
but that she had heard his voice somewhere near 
when she lay semi-conscious in the rain, but of 
course she had misunderstood the words them- 
selves. What could such a man as he know of 
love? 

Mrs. Lindholm brought steaming coffee and 
new-laid eggs and then arrayed her in a bright 
pink gingham frock which had to be taken in 
vastly about the waist, and a pair of flat-heeled 
black slippers that flapped absurdly from the slim 
ankles encased in coarse white cotton hose. Not 
wishing to offend her kindly hostess Susanna sub- 
mitted to having her heavy hair braided and 
wound smoothly about her head after the manner 
in which the older woman wore hers and when 
the operation was completed Mrs. Lindholm 
regarded her with satisfaction. 

“You look joost like a little girl going to a 
party,’ ’ she beamed. “Dot dress ain’t so right, 
maybe, for de city, but my silk one vouldn’t fit 
nowheres, and I got a cape you can vear. Ve 
vould be glad to have you stay, but your brodder 
says you must go on by de afternoon train; dey 
bane clearing de track now.” 

“How far is this from where the accident hap- 
pened?” Susanna asked. 


A DBEAM STILL-BOBN 


225 


“Joost over de pasture; you could see it from 
down by de chicken house. Your brudder, he 
vorry his head off,” she nodded briskly from the 
door. “I go tell him you are all right now.” 

When the door had closed behind her hostess, 
Susanna surveyed herself in the small mirror with 
misgiving. The image it gave back to her was 
that of a quaint, old-fashioned picture, but its 
charm was lost upon her. She looked so ridicu- 
lously young. It was years since she had worn 
anything but the rough garments of the ranch 
and plain traveling attire for her infrequent visits 
to Mammon City and she felt ill at ease in the 
bright, billowing gown. 

There was no help for it, however. She must 
face Chanler and his friend sooner or later and 
it was not her propensity to put off the inevitable. 
Yet at the door Susanna hesitated in sudden 
reluctance. The first few moments would be diffi- 
cult after last night. She had no idea how she 
had gotten out of the train, no memory of any- 
thing after the crash came until she lay on the 
ground and heard that voice in her ears. 

“I love you. While East is East .” What 

if she had not been mistaken, if he had actually 
uttered those words. Susanna flushed scarlet at 
the thought and her breath came in a little quiver- 
ing gasp. It could not be. He would never have 


226 


TWO-GUN SUE 


dared to avow love to her. But what had been 
the first words she thought she had distinguished? 

‘ ‘ You will never know it . 9 9 They re-echoed as 

though he himself had spoken in his own defense 
and Susanna covered her ears. Was she going 
mad? 

Besolutely she opened the door and descended 
the narrow, immaculately scrubbed stairs to the 
little entry and out upon the porch. Honeysuckle 
and morning-glory vines trailed about it and 
countless bees hummed among the flowers in the 
old-fashioned garden, but no one was visible and 
after a moment Susanna went down the steps and 
around a side path toward the orchard. It had 
been planted upon a rising slope beyond the 
chicken houses, and she hoped that from there a 
glimpse might be obtained of the railroad. 

She was clothed after a fashion, but her greatest 
problem remained ; her ticket and the money with 
which to continue their journey. Come what may, 
they must go on to the end. 

The branches of the trees hung low with their 
heavy burden of fast-ripening apples and their 
fragrant odor was heady as new wine. Between 
two distant clusters of farm buildings Susanna 
caught a glimpse of shining rails and a knot of 
men gathered about a hideous mass of piled-up 
wreckage, and at the sight a dizzy, sick feeling 


A DREAM STILL-BORN 


227 


came over her once more. She looked about and 
then sat down weakly under a tree. Mrs. Lind- 
holm had said that only a few were hurt and 
Susanna was usually levelheaded, but now she 
shuddered uncontrollably. It was a miracle that 
they had escaped uninjured, and if anything had 
happened to Garrison Chanler it would have been 
her fault. 

She would take the same chance over again, 
knowing what lay ahead, she told herself dog- 
gedly; there had been only one course for her to 
pursue from the moment when Sylvia had con- 
fided in her and she had not stopped to count the 
possible cost. The thought of a wreck had not 
entered her mind, but neither had this other con- 
tingency which had arisen like a spectre and 
which must haunt her until she could be sure that 
it had been just a figment of her overwrought 
imagination. 

She had been so buried in her musing that the 
sound of light, brisk footsteps through the soft 
grass had not penetrated to her consciousness and 
it was with a start that Susanna looked up to 
find Garrison Chanler standing before her. 

He was clad in faded overalls and a soft shirt 
open at the neck, which revealed the bronzed 
column of his throat and splendid breadth of 
chest, and the sun filtering through the branches 


228 


TWO-GUN SUE 


overhead flecked his brown hair with gold. 
Susanna did not note his appearance, however, 
for his eyes had caught hers and held them, and 
what she read there made her tremble all at once, 
and a strange, tingling warmth stole through her 
veins. The next moment she had wrenched her 
gaze away and a cold wave of consternation swept 
over her. It was true. He cared for her. What- 
ever he was, whatever he had been, that light in 
his eyes had been unmistakable, even to one as 
unversed in love as she. 

A mist seemed to have risen over the sunny 
orchard and it was from far away that she heard 
her own voice saying coldly but with shaken tones : 

“I must thank you and your friend for bringing 
me here last night and seeing that Mrs. Lindholm 
took care of me.” 

Garry started. He had thought her wonderful 
in her plain, dark traveling dress which could 
not conceal her rich, warm coloring and the splen- 
did lines of her figure, but this new Susanna, in 
the billowing pink frock with her soft bands of 
shining hair and that strange, shy, questioning 
look in her eyes, held him speechless before her. 
When she averted her eyes and spoke, the chill 
formality of her tone was like a dash of cold water 
and the grim irony of the situation descended upon 
him with renewed force. 


A DREAM STILL-BORN 


229 


“It was nothing. You have quite recovered? 
A doctor who happened to be one of our fellow 
passengers said that you had merely fainted but 
there were so many who required attention that 
we feared his examination had been too hurried. 
Miss Poindexter. ’ ’ He paused and then went on 
desperately: “I told Mrs. Lindholm that I was 
your brother. You must forgive me, but I thought 
it was best under the circumstances.” 

“I quite understand. ’ ’ Susanna made as if to 
rise, but he forestalled her by seating himself 
on a low heap of old fence rails. 

“Please don’t go. I — I shan’t disturb you, but 
there is something that I want to explain, if I 
may.” He hesitated again. “Mrs. Lindholm 
told you that my friend, Peter Bigelow, was with 
me. He is the one who got on board at Pitts- 
burgh and he goes as far as St. Louis on the train 
which the company is sending out for us all this 
afternoon. I shall have to present him.” 

“Why not?” Susanna elevated her eyebrows, 
but she could not bring herself quite yet to look 
at him again. 

“I did not wish to force him upon your 
acquaintance yesterday, but he saw me talking to 
you after lunch and I felt obliged to tell him that 
I met you and your brother in Texas and we had 
encountered each other again in the station at 


230 


TWO-GUN SUE 


New York. I am speaking of it now only because 
he may refer to it himself. ’ * Garry fumbled awk- 
wardly in the pocket of his shirt. ‘ ‘There is 
another matter. The claim agent for the road 
has been here — all our baggage was lost, you 
know, — and I took it upon myself to settle for 
you. If you fought the road they could drag the 
case out for weeks and months, and I knew you 
were anxious to get back to Texas. Do you think 
that five hundred dollars will cover your loss?” 

“ ‘Five hundred P ” Susanna repeated, staring 
at the little packet of bills he held out to her. 
“Mr. Chanler, except for my ticket and a small 
sum of money, one hundred would have paid for 
everything I had with me.” 

. It was the first naive remark Garry had heard 
from her and despite the dull ache which had lain 
at his heart since the self -revelation of the night 
before, a faint smile played for a moment about 
his lips. 

“Take it, Miss Poindexter. I wouldn’t worry 
about the railroad; they will more than make it 
up from other luckless passengers.” His face 
was grave once more and Susanna could not have 
guessed, as she took the roll of bills somewhat 
doubtfully from him and tucked it into the breast 
of the little pink gown, that the agent had settled 
for a far more modest claim and the bulk of her 


A DREAM STILL-BORN 


231 


new-found capital had come from Garry ’s own 
money belt. “If you think it is too much, you 
can always send them back a check for their con- 
science fund, if they have one. Here comes my 
friend now.” 

Pete, in his own pajama jacket and a pair of 
overalls which bulged alarmingly, had appeared 
from behind the chicken house, hesitated for a 
moment and then ducked for cover, but at Garry’s 
peremptory wave he came diffidently forward and 
acknowledged the formal introduction with a dig- 
nity which his eccentric appearance did not 
warrant. 

For the first time his presence on the scene was 
welcome to Susanna and she greeted him 
cordially. 

“I wish you would tell me just what happened 
last night. Mrs. Lindholm says we ran into a 
derailed freight, but I don’t remember anything 
after the crash came until I woke up a little while 
ago,” she explained hastily, aware that Garry 
had darted a quick apprehensive glance at her. 

‘ 6 That ’s about all there is to tell, ’ ’ he responded, 
before Pete could speak. “People just dug each 
other out of the general mess and piled out in 
the rain and the farmers hereabout came down 
and divided us up as house guests for the night. 
I have been explaining to Miss Poindexter how 


232 


TWO-GUN SUE 


it came about that she had an extra brother added 
to her family this morning. ’ ’ 

He turned to Pete, who regarded him with 
withering disgust. 

“Is that the way you tell it?” he demanded. 
“Miss Poindexter, when I came to after the crash 
my feet were through a window and my head 
rammed into somebody’s dressing-bag, I got out 
the way my feet started and went to look for 
Garry. Your car was turned over in the ditch 
and he was storming over it like a raging bull 
with a couple of husky trainmen trying to hold 
him back and a dozen passengers yelling that 
everybody was out and there was danger of 
fire ” 

“Don’t be idiotic, Pete!” Garry growled, but 
the other was not to be silenced. 

“There was danger of fire, only the rain pre- 
vented it spreading,” he insisted firmly. “Just 
as I got up to him Garry shouted something and 
dived in through a window and when I followed 
he was digging you out of a heap of smashed 
woodwork and general wreckage. ’ ’ 

“Oh — h!” Susanna’s stern frigidity melted 
away and her eyes were big and shining mistily 
as in spite of her resolution they sought Garry’s 
once more. “So it was you! I mean, I thought 
it must have been, when I learned that you and 


A DREAM STILL-BORN 233 

your friend were here, too. I — I don’t know 
what to say ” 

She found herself floundering desperately for 
words, but Pete came to the rescue. 

“I helped, you know,” he reminded her mod- 
estly. “Did you chance to observe this morning 
the dressing gown which you had been wearing, 
Miss Poindexter? I took that off a pompous old 
gentleman who was sitting in the ditch bemoaning 
the loss of his pet golf sticks and he is going to 
sue me. Besides, your rescue wasn’t half as spec- 
tacular as Garry’s last Saturday. You have 
heard about the accident to his airplane?” 

Susanna was stricken into silence, but a warm 
color flooded her face and as she dropped her eyes 
Garry leaned forward. 

“Miss Poindexter, a lady risked her life to save 
my more or less worthless one and then disap- 
peared before I could express my gratitude. I 
meant to find her if I had to search the world, 
but a matter of even greater importance inter- 
vened; a matter which would brook no delay. I 
know now that the lady will never accept my 
thanks and it may be that she heartily regrets 
her action, but nevertheless I shall be forever in 
her debt.” 

Susanna rose somewhat shakily to her feet and 
stood looking from one to the other with a little 


234 


TWO-GUN SUE 


uncertain smile, the first which Garry had ever 
seen upon her face. 

“ Perhaps the — the lady owes you a debt, too, 
Mr. Chanler. Will you credit her with less hon- 
esty in its payment than yourself? I — I think I 
shall go into the house and rest for awhile. No, 
don’t rise, please; I can manage quite well by 
myself. ’ ’ 

She nodded and moved off through the trees, 
and Pete gazed after her in blank amazement. 

“Say, what’s gotten into you two?” he 
demanded at last. “You act as the North and 
South must have done, on the first Memorial 
Day.” 

“No, it’s East and West.” Garry shook his 
head. “There isn’t even a grave to decorate, 
Pete. One can’t bury a dream that was never 
even born.” 


CHAPTER XVI 


DACON ACHESON TAKES THE DEAL 

T HE train which was sent out to gather in the 
stalled refugees from the wreck was late and 
it was nearly midnight when they drew into the 
Union Station at St. Louis. Throughout the run 
both Susanna and Garry had clung with suspi- 
cious cordiality to Pete, but that bewildered young 
man became wary at length and escaped to the 
smoker. They had maintained a voluble if some- 
what incoherent conversation but with his depar- 
ture a constraint fell upon them and only when 
the silence became unendurable did Susanna 
speak. 

“Are you sure that there is a train out for 
Fort Worth with which we can make connec- 
tions V 9 Without realizing it she had relin- 
quished the leadership of their journey to Garry 
and as unconsciously he had assumed it. 

“As sure as the time-table can make me,” he 
responded. “You don’t think it would be wiser 
for you to rest over night in a hotel in St. Louis 
and start for Fort Worth in the morning V 9 

235 


236 


TWO-GUN SUE 


Susanna was a quaint figure in Mrs. Lindholm’s 
voluminous beaded cape, but Garry thought that 
her face looked drawn and tired under the sway- 
ing lamps and he longed to draw that weary, 
indomitable head down upon his shoulder, even 
while he put the thought sternly from him. Dur- 
ing the long hours of the previous night, after the 
knowledge had come to him that he loved her, he 
had fought his battle and won, but the victory 
had left him battered and bruised in spirit and 
heart. One resolve alone burned high within 
him ; he would play the hand which an ironic des- 
tiny had dealt him and then quit the game without 
a murmur that the cards had been stacked against 
him. Susanna should never dream that he cared. 

Susanna herself was in a state of mind that 
bordered on chaos, and too utterly spent to seek 
to analyze it. She only knew that she longed 
with all her heart to be at home again, and in 
answer to his question she shook her head. 

‘ ‘No. We have been delayed too long already. 
If I can get a drawing-room on the train out of 
St. Louis I need not appear until we reach Fort 
Worth and there will be time to shop.” She 
glanced at the much-worn suit of ministerial black 
and the shabby bag which Garry had succeeded 
in purchasing from Lars Lindholm and added: 
1 * You have all that you will require until then?” 


DACON ACHESON TAKES THE DEAL 237 


“Yes, thanks. I was more fortunate than Mr. 
Bigelow, you see ; it is a pity that nature endowed 
him more generously than our Swedish friend.” 
Garry essayed a smile. “He looks rather like a 
filled hot water bag in that mackintosh, doesn’t 
he?” 

Susanna was saved from the necessity of a 
reply by the reappearance of Pete himself, but 
the derided mackintosh had been replaced by a 
light overcoat of decidedly sporting tendencies as 
to cut, and he wore a loud-checked cap upon his 
head. 

“Nifty, isn’t it?” he asked as he paused beside 
Garry’s seat. “Had my eye on the chap who 
wore this from the minute he got on the train.” 

1 * Pete ! ’ ’ Garry exclaimed. “You didn ’t ? ’ ’ 

“Oh, I would have murdered him for it cheer- 
fully, only it wasn’t necessary; I watched him 
play three hands before I sat in the game and I 
knew he was my meat. Hello, we ’re getting in. ’ ’ 

The train was slackening and Susanna rose and 
held out her hand. 

“Goodbye, Mr. Bigelow. If you are ever in 
Texas, near a little cow-town called Dexter, you 
will find a welcome at the Circle Six. The ranch 
gates are never closed.” 

‘ ‘ Dexter ? By J ove, that ’s funny. I heard that 
name in Pittsburgh in connection with some new 


238 


TWO-GUN SUE 


activity ” He broke off and shook her hand 

heartily to cover his confusion. “ Thanks, Miss 
Poindexter. I’ll remember, and when next you 
are in New York I hope you will let me present 
my sister. She ’ll be happy to show you anything 
you may have missed on your first visit. ’ ’ 

Susanna smiled to herself, but there was time 
for no more, for the train stopped and in the 
station Pete took his leave. 

“Sit here while I go and see about your draw- 
ing-room. ’ ’ Garry led Susanna to a seat and was 
gone before she could protest. She sank into it 
and sat apathetically watching the belated trav- 
elers hurrying by. They would be in Fort Worth 
by the following night and home the next after- 
noon. And then 1 Susanna closed her eyes 

as though to shut out the scene which rose un- 
bidden before her. She would at least have ful- 
filled her duty and upheld the traditions of the 
family, and, afterward, if the Circle Six did not 
pass out of their hands, she supposed that life 
would go on just the same. 

Once more, against her will, the possibility of 
some ghastly mistake having been made arose 
to confront her, but she thrust it from her almost 
in fear. If she dared to entertain such a thought 
she would not have strength to complete the 
journey, and Susanna took herself sternly to task. 


DACON ACHESON TAKES THE DEAL 239 

The very fact that this man had so easily fancied 
himself infatuated with her proved his instability 
of character and she must not be weak enough 
to try to find excuses for him. The scene in 
Sylvia’s room in the moonlight had somehow lost 
its sharp poignancy and seemed blurred and un- 
real, but that was because so much had happened 
in the interval. The ugly fact could not be glossed 
over by any specious argument even though he 
had come to her rescue in the wreck, but the course 
which she had taken appeared all at once cheap 
and needlessly melodramatic in her own eyes and 
she was glad that the little revolver which had 
played so farcical a part was buried in the debris 
of the derailed train. 

By good fortune a drawing-room proved to be 
vacant on the flyer to Fort Worth and Susanna 
retired thankfully to it. Shaken by the experi- 
ence through which she had passed and the mental 
upheaval that had followed in its train she was 
asleep almost before they pulled out of the sta- 
tion, and kept herself secluded all the following 
day, though Garry came several times to her door 
with formal inquiries as to whether he might be 
of service. 

As the country flying past the window grew 
more and more familiar to her eyes, an inexplic- 
able revulsion of feeling came to Susanna and 


240 


TWO-GUN SUE 


she found that she dreaded the end of the journey 
as much as she had formerly looked forward to 
it. It was merely because the whole affair was 
so hideous, so sordid, she assured herself, but the 
assurance somehow lacked conviction. 

At Fort Worth Garry came to assist her from 
the train and in the station she looked at him in 
consternation. 

“You are ill. You were hurt in that wreck, 
or — or the airplane accident, and you wouldn’t 
tell me,” she accused. “You wanted to stop over 
in St. Louis last night and I would not listen! 
What must you think of me f ” 

‘ ‘ That is beside the question, isn’t it ? ” he asked 
quietly. “I am not ill, Miss Poindexter, but the 
next train does not leave for Mammon City until 

ten o’clock tomorrow morning ” 

‘ ‘ I know, ’ 9 Susanna interrupted quickly. ‘ ‘ Our 
attorney’s sister lives here and she will take me in 
for the night, while you can find a very good hotel 
just over the way, but I — I ’m sure there is some- 
thing wrong ! You look really ill. ’ 9 

Garry was, but he lied valiantly. The wrenched 
nerves and muscles of his spine had suffered from 
the added strain of his effort to extricate Susanna 
from the wreck and the throbbing ache had sharp- 
ened to a darting agony which shot up to his brain, 
but it was as nothing compared to the hopeless 


BACON ACHESON TAKES THE BEAL 241 

wretchedness of his thoughts. He loved her, and 
he could never tell her so; the very ruffian who, 
with his gang of rustlers, had hunted and shot 
down her brother would have a greater chance 
with her than he ! Had ever a man been so placed ? 
Why had he been too cursedly proud to put up a 
fight for himself at the start and proclaim his 
innocence even while he expressed his readiness to 
return with her and face whatever charge that 
absurd child had brought against him? Susanna 
might at least have respected him then ! 

All night he tossed restlessly upon his bed at the 
hotel and in the morning had to goad his flagging 
energies to a round of the shops in order to pro- 
cure a more suitable outfit before he met her at 
the station. That day would see the end of the 
sorry adventure, at any rate, and by nightfall he 
would be free to turn his face eastward once more, 
alone. 

When they met to board the train Susanna had 
exchanged the bulky cape and bright gingham 
frock for a suit of sober brown and her manner 
was as serenely aloof as at the start of their jour- 
ney. Garry did not wait for his dismissal, but 
made his way to the smoking-car as soon as she 
was ensconced in her seat, leaving her to her own 
thoughts. 

They were destined to be interrupted, however, 


242 


TWO-GUN SUE 


for she had scarcely opened a book, only to close 
it again and turn toward the window, when a tall, 
spare figure arose precipitately and came down 
the aisle toward her. 

‘ ‘ Susanna, my dear child ! I have written and 
wired you to the Circle Six, but got no reply, and 
I thought something must have happened to you ! 
Where have you been?” 

“ Uncle Dave!” she grasped the hand of David 
Hartwell with a little cry of joy. “Oh, it is good 
to see you ! You haven ’t been in Fort Worth? I 
spent the night with your sister.” 

“No, I’m coming through from Dallas.” The 
attorney seated himself thoughtfully opposite and 
for a moment tugged at his heavy grizzled mus- 
tache. “You didn’t tell me last week that you 
expected to leave the ranch. ’ ’ 

There was reproach and a veiled repression in 
his tone and Susanna glanced at him quickly. 

“I didn’t know it myself when I saw you,” she 
explained. “I went away the morning after I 
returned to the Circle Six and waited over in 
Mammon City to see you, but you had left town 
yourself. I had a time to get the money together 
for my trip without you there to sign checks and 
things!” 

“And where have you been?” he asked again. 

“ To New York. ’ ’ Susanna smiled at his amaze- 


DACON ACHESON TAKES THE DEAL 243 

ment, but her face sobered quickly. ‘ i Uncle Dave, 
you haven ’t been in communication with Lee and 
Sylvia, have you? You see, they don’t know where 
I went, and I — I let them think that it was through 
your advice, on a matter of business connected 
with those notes which the bank holds.” 

* 4 Then you don’t know!” Amazement had 
given place to concern. “But he said — he gave 
me to understand that he was practically acting in 
your behalf! I rejoiced, my child, that you had 
succeeded in interesting Eastern capital ” 

“He? — Who?” Susanna interrupted. “What 
are you talking about, Uncle Dave ? ’ ’ 

“A man calling himself Dacon Acheson; he 
said he and his family had been paying you a visit 
at the Circle Six, and he knew all about your finan- 
cial difficulties. I inferred that you had taken him 
fully into your confidence — Susanna! What is 
the matter?” 

The girl’s face had paled, but a brilliant spot of 
color flamed suddenly in each cheek and her eyes 
flashed. 

“What has he done?” she countered. “Why 
did he go to you and discuss our affairs? What 
pretext had he ? ” 

“He has taken over the notes from the bank,” 
David Hartwell replied slowly. “He owns all the 
outstanding obligations of the Circle Six.” 


244 


TWO-GUN SUE 


For a moment there was silence and then 
Susanna brought her small fist down sharply upon 
the arm of the seat. 

“ Uncle Dave, this means the end! Ten days 
of the thirty which were extended on the notes 
have passed and Acheson will show no mercy ! He 
and his people did stay at the ranch for a few days 
a fortnight ago, but they were not urged to remain 
longer, and he tried his best to buy the Circle Six 
from Lee — he offered a hundred and twenty-five 
thousand for it and said that the matter could 
stand open for thirty days. He must have been 
very anxious to make sure that the ranch would 
pass into his hands !” 

Her tone was bitter and the old attorney de- 
manded : 

“But why didn’t you let me know this at once, 
Susanna? That you had received this offer, I 
mean. Why did you go to New York without 
taking me into your confidence? Did you hear 
of someone there who might have taken up the 
notes and given you a further extension on them? ” 

Susanna shook her head. 

“No, Uncle Dave. I thought I was doing the 
best, the only thing under the circumstances, but 
— but now I ” 

She broke off and looked out of the window and 


DACON ACHESON TAKES THE DEAL 245 


David Hartwell patted her hand in fatherly 
fashion. 

* ‘Never mind, my child. We’ve got to work 
fast, but we’ll find out why Acheson wants the 
Circle Six so bad, and then maybe we can locate 
others that’ll want it even more than he does. 
He ’s bought the deal, but we ’re all sitting in, and 
may God help him if he deals from the bottom!” 


CHAPTER XVII 


THE BAEEED GATE 

G ARRY appeared at the end of the car as they 
neared Mammon City and would have with- 
drawn at sight of Susannah companion, but she 
beckoned to him. 

“This is a friend of Lee’s, Uncle Dave, Mr. 
Garrison Chanler. — Our attorney, Mr. Hartwell. ’ ’ 
She presented them. “I have been learning some 
interesting things about our mutual acquaintance, 
Dacon Acheson.” 

i c You know him, sir ? 9 9 The attorney eyed Garry 
keenly. “What is his line? We understand that 
he is a capitalist from the East . 9 9 

“Mines and railroads, for the most part, Mr. 
Hartwell.” Garry turned to Susanna. “He and 
Pete Bigelow’s father have been at each other’s 
throats for the past twenty years, but lately they 
have decided to bury the hatchet. Has he been 
interesting himself in anything down this way?” 

“It would seem so,” David Hartwell replied 
dryly. “ ‘Mines and railroads, 1 you say? Humph! 
There’s lot of ground to be broken for both of 

246 


247 


THE BARRED GATE 

them, I reckon, in these parts. — Susanna, I’ll look 
into this and mosey out to the Circle Six as soon 
as I can round up any information. Take care of 
yourself as well as Lee and Sylvia, my child ; you 
look as though you needed it!” 

He shook hands, bowed gravely to Garry and 
strode back to his own seat to gather up his old- 
fashioned luggage. When they alighted at the 
station he was already striding up the main street 
of the town, his broad-brimmed hat set well back 
upon his grizzled hair and the long, black tails of 
his coat flapping in the breeze. 

The little way train was puffing on the side track 
to take them upon the last lap of their journey, 
and as they entered the car more than one Dexter 
friend looked up to nod and smile at Susanna and 
glance in surprise at her companion. She made 
an almost imperceptible gesture for him to seat 
himself beside her and when he obeyed she began 
a gay little conversation, obviously intended for 
their neighbors ’ ears. 

Garry understood and did his best to play up, 
but in spite of their efforts a silence lapsed 
between them. Every jolt of the train had become 
torture to him and each revolution of the wheels 
carried her nearer and nearer to the scene she had 
come to loathe in anticipation. 

It had been all but crowded from her thoughts, 


248 


TWO-GUN SUE 


however, by Uncle Dave Hartwell ’s news, and the 
utter hopelessness of the situation well-nigh over- 
whelmed her. With Dacon Acheson holding the 
whip hand and only twenty days left in which to 
prevent the ranch from falling into his possession, 
the girl could see nothing but defeat ahead, and 
yet her courage rose to meet the blow. Sylvia 
was only a child, and Lee injured and helpless, and 
while Wes Hayward and the boys were loyal to 
the core there was nothing that they could do in 
this crisis. Uncle Dave had used every resource 
at his command to gain extensions on the notes 
for her and now his efforts were exhausted. The 
Circle Six would not pass into alien hands without 
a fight, but Susanna realized that the fight must be 
hers alone. 

Where was Dacon Acheson himself? If he 
had elected to remain in Mammon City until the 
date when the notes could be called in, Uncle Dave 
would soon learn it, but Susanna did not think it 
likely ; he must have too large interests in widely 
scattered sections of the country to wait about 
for a whole month in order to take personal pos- 
session of a mere cattle ranch, when agents could 
as easily transact that business for him. Then, 
too, he would scarcely care to meet the attorney 
for its present owners again until the time arrived 
for him to come out in the open. That he would 


THE BARRED GATE 


249 


stop at nothing then to achieve his ends the girl 
realized, but surely there could be no further 
trouble from him for twenty days. 

It was then that a hastily checked remark of 
Pete Bigelow, temporarily forgotten in the bustle 
of leave-taking at St. Louis, returned to Susanna ’s 
mind. He had heard Dexter spoken of in the 
conference at Pittsburgh in connection with some 
“new activities.’ ’ But what new activities could 
spring up about a little cow-town which had long 
since reached the apex of its growth, and what 
could have brought its very existence on the map 
to the attention of that august body of magnates ? 
More than all, why had Pete himself halted and 
looked so thoroughly uncomfortable after men- 
tioning it, as though he had betrayed a secret? 

Garry had glanced at her hesitatingly more than 
once, but she was so lost in the problem confront- 
ing her that she seemed scarcely aware of his 
presence, and he would not intrude upon her 
thoughts, nor ask a confidence which she withheld. 
None the less, he wondered mightily what she had 
learned of “Dynamo” Acheson from her attor- 
ney. What mischief had the old fox been up to? 

While each was perplexed with vain questions 
the train drew up before the platform at Dexter, 
and they had reached their journey’s end. 

“Howdy!” A rough hand grasped Garry’s. 


250 TWO-GUN SUE 

“Mighty glad yon come back. — Howdy, Miss 
Sue!” 

It was a puncher from the Bar D, and although 
he had greeted Garry with hearty warmth, 
Susanna fancied there was a certain constraint in 
his manner toward her. 

“Is everything all right at the Circle Six, 
Roddy?” she asked anxiously. 

“Lee’s doin’ fine!” His tone was reassuring, 
but he looked past her. “Seen Wes down here 
Wednesday, and he says Lee will soon be hoppin’ 
’round right smart on a cane. — Reckon I better 
mosey ’long for the mail.” 

He hurried off to the little ramshackle post office 
and Susanna, who knew that the letters would not 
be sorted for another half-hour, gazed after him 
for a moment in troubled questioning. Then she 
turned to her companion. 

“We must find Fred and his jitney ” she 

began, and stopped. Garry was shaking hands 
violently with a young man in rough, cow- 
puncher’s clothes, whose upturned nose, pugna- 
cious jaw and red-brown curling hair were 
vaguely familiar, but Susanna could not at first 
place him in her mind. She did recognize the 
team and buckboard, however, which stood beside 
the platform; had Wes taken on a new hand at 
the ranch? 


THE BARRED GATE 


251 


The young man turned somewhat sheepishly 
from Garry to her, and as he advanced she 
stiffened suddenly. It was Acheson’s chauffeur, 
Bill Briggs ! 

“I — I guess you didn’t expect to see me, miss,” 
he stammered, red-faced. “Pm workin’ for you, 
now. Wes took me on an’ your brother said I 
could stay till you came hack, anyway. I hope I ’ll 
give satisfaction.” 

His words were still the subservient ones of the 
town-bred chauffeur, but there was a new inde- 
pendence in his manner, and he looked frankly 
into her eyes. 

“You have left Mr. Acheson’s service?” Su- 
sanna asked slowly but with meaning. 

“Quit him cold, the big stiff!” Bill growled. 
“Sounds rotten, miss, but he’d already shipped 
the missus an’ the young lady home by train, an’ 
he ordered me to follow when he found I wouldn’t 
do his dirty work for him. I ain’t a squealer an’ 
I wouldn’t double-cross him if he was on the level, 
but — well, I’m stuck on it out here, an’ I remem- 
bered that Wes promised me a job sometime, so 
I hopped off the cars at Fort Worth an’ beat it 
back to the Circle Six. ’ ’ 

Susanna had not taken her eyes off his face, and 
he did not lower his, although he flushed still 
deeper beneath her searching scrutiny. It was 


252 


TWO-GUN SUE 


evident that he tried to convey more than he said 
and his tones rang with unmistakable sincerity. 
Susanna held out her hand. 

“Iam glad you did, Bill. I haven! forgotten 
how you helped me with my brother, and I ’ m sure 
you 11 make good with us. ’ ’ 

It was a covenant and his eyes shone as he took 
her hand. 

4 ‘Just you watch my smoke, miss! — I — I mean, 
try me and see. Wes sent me down for the mail to 
see if there was a letter from you, but I guess I 
don 1 need to wait for it now ! 1 9 

“111 sit beside you on the front seat,” Susanna 
announced. “Mr. Chanler is coming to pay us a 
visit, Bill.” 

“Yes, miss.” He was again the well-trained 
chauffeur and turned to take the bags from Garry, 
but the latter had already piled them into the 
buckboard, and now as Susanna took her seat and 
invited him with a gesture he clambered in behind 
and they were off. 

“One of the Bar D boys told me just now that 
my brother was getting well fast,” Susanna 
remarked. “Has there been any further trouble 
with J ake Brower and his gang or have they been 
run off the range ! ’ y 

Bill hesitated and the team leaped forward 
under the involuntarily tightened reins. 


THE BARRED GATE 


253 


“ They ’re not gone, miss,” he said at last. 
“They ’ve made it pretty hot for us, but they’ve 
been layin’ low for the last couple of days an’ the 
posse that’s after ’em can’t find where they hang 
out. Link Dole an’ Clint Beckett are out now with 
the sheriff’s bunch, an’ I’m goin’ to take my turn 
to-night. ’ ’ 

“Oh, why doesn’t Big Matt do something!” the 
girl cried. “He’s rounded up or driven off the 
range quicker than this every bad man or gang of 
rustlers since he’s been in office !” 

4 ‘ Big Matt ’s laid up. They got him through the 
side an’ croaked two of his deputies last week, an’ 
Sim Moser’s in charge now. — I ain’t got no use for 
that guy ! ’ ’ Bill ’s face darkened. “I’m what the 
fellers out here call a tenderfoot, but I know a 
crook when I see one, an’ I wouldn’t trust him 
with a plugged nickel ! ’ ’ 

“I’m sorry about Big Matt; I hope he isn’t 
badly hurt.” They were approaching the ranch 
house and Susanna’s tone was absent as she 
strained her eyes hungrily ahead. “Why — why 
the gates are closed!” 

“Barred,” Bill replied briefly as he drew up and 
climbed down over the wheel. “I guess that feller 
from the Bar D didn’t want to scare you, miss, 
but all their boys that can be spared are in the 


254 


TWO-GUN SUE 


posse, an’ most of those from the other ranches 
around. W e ’re expectin ’ trouble. ’ ’ 

“Is it safe for Miss Poindexter to be 
here, Bill?” Garry spoke for the first time. 
He had always addressed the Acheson chauf- 
feur as “Briggs,” and the latter’s eyes 
sparkled at this recognition of his changed 
status. 

“I guess so, with all of us to take care of her, 
Mr. Chanler!” he responded heartily. “Here 
comes Wes now to open the gates ! 9 9 

The foreman appeared on a shambling run, with 
Tad Mason at his heels, and when the gate swung 
back the team leaped forward, to stop with a jerk 
before the porch steps. 

“It's shore good medicine to lay eyes on you, 
Miss Sue!” Wes spat with gusto as he accepted 
the hand which she held out to each. “We ain’t 
had what you might call an easy-go since you be ’n 
away an’ it looks like we was goin’ to have more 
trouble. — Howdy, Mr. Chanler. You back in 
Dexter ? I didn ’t hear ’ 9 

“Mr. Chanler came on the same train that 
brought me and he ’s going to visit us here at the 
ranch, Wes,” Susanna interposed quickly, and 
turned to Garry. “Don’t you want to go in and 
say * hello’ to Lee? — No explanations yet. He 
knows nothing.” 


THE BARRED GATE 255 

She added the last in an undertone and Garry 
nodded. 

4 4 1 quite understand. ’ 9 Then he raised his voice 
slightly. 4 4 Your sister ? 9 9 

“Where is Sylvia V 9 Susanna turned once more 
to the foreman. 

“Visitin’ at the Bentley ranch. Harold’s home 
from England an’ his mother sent him over to ask 
her,” he responded. “She didn’t want to go and 
leave Lee sick, but he made her; the little gal’s 
be’n a handful, wantin’ to jump the corral all the 
time an’ we never knowin’ whether some o’ Jake’s 
outfit wouldn’t mebbe waylay her on the road. 
Harold Bentley says they ’ll keep her safe till the 
trouble has blown over. ’ ’ 

“It is too bad to have brought you here at such 

a time ” Susanna spoke hesitatingly to Garry, 

but he interrupted her. 

“I am very glad,” he said with emphasis. “I 
shall hope to see Miss Sylvia when she returns, 
of course, but, meantime, I am happy to join the 
garrison here. You appear to be in a state of 
siege?” 

Wes flushed. 

“First time the gates of the Circle Six was 
barred ! ” he declared defensively. 4 4 But they got 
Big Matt an’ killed two o’ his dep’ties in broad 
daylight an’ I’m takin’ no chances.” 


256 


TWO-GUN SUE 


“Let me know when you need me.” Garry 
nodded and disappeared into the house and Bill 
Briggs remarked admiringly : 

“ ‘Snipes/ his pals call him back in New York. 
He got that name over in France ; one of the best 
sharpshooters with his division. ’ 9 

“Mebbe we can give him a chance to prove it 
out here. ” Wes ’ face was very grave. 

‘ ‘ I can ’t understand Jake ’s daring . 9 9 Susanna 
shook her head. “It means worse than jail for 
him now if he’s caught, and he’s bound to be in 
the long run. ’ ’ 

“Wes got the ornery dawg through the lungs; 
the one that plugged Big Matt, ’ ’ Tad volunteered. 
“He didn’t have time to talk none, but though he 
was with Jake’s bunch, all right, he didn’t belong 
in these parts, an’ he warn’t no greaser, neither.” 

The significance in his tone made the girl eye 
him sharply. 

“What do you mean, Tad? What sort of a man 
was he ? ” 

“Nothin’ bred on the range, Miss Sue. We 
calc ’late he come from a bigger town than Dexter, 
an’ Bill says ” he hesitated. 

“That’s right,” affirmed the ex-chauffeur from 
the buckboard as he gathered up the reins. “We 
found some coke an’ a blackjack in his kick when 
we frisked him after he croaked, an’ I’m wise to 


THE BARRED GATE 


257 


his kind; you can hire ’em in any big burg to 
bump off a guy for a century, an’ he didn’t belong 
to this gang any more than — than the crook who 
sent him here ! ’ ’ 

“What does he mean?” Susanna asked in a low 
tone when the buckboard had driven off. 

“He’s four-square, Bill is,” Wes replied reflec- 
tively. “He’s got an idee, though, that some- 
body’s kind o’ hornin’ in on this little party, an’ 
I dunno but he’s right. We’re fightin’ somethin’ 
bigger’n a rustler’s gang, Miss Sue.” 


CHAPTER XVIII 


EAST IS WEST 

S USANNA lay in her own familiar bed that 
night, staring wide-eyed into the darkness. 
The journey was over and she had brought back 
her man, but how different was the homecoming 
from that which she imagined when, in the first 
white heat of her wrath she had formed her reso- 
lution ! They had returned to face a new condition 
of things and Lee was obviously so glad to see 
Garrison Chanler and so relieved by his presence 
in the crisis that she had not enlightened him as 
to the reason for their guest’s supposed visit. 
There would be time enough, she told herself when 
Sylvia returned. 

Wes, too, had been frankly glad of his counsel 
and Susanna marveled at the way in which, with 
no seeming effort on his part, he had won the 
confidence and liking of the wary, taciturn fore- 
man. Yet if she did not know the truth, if that 
hour in Sylvia’s room had never been, would she 
not, too, have unquestionaly trusted and believed 
in him? 

She tossed restlessly as though in a physical 

258 


EAST IS WEST 


259 


effort to banish the disquieting thought, and all 
at once something tinkled against the upper sash 
of her opened window. Susanna raised herself on 
one elbow and listened, but the sound was not 
repeated and she was just dropping off to sleep 
when a small object bounded over the sill and fell 
with a soft thud on the floor. 

Springing up the girl lighted her lamp and 
found at her feet a dingy piece of paper wrapped 
about a handful of pebbles. Wondering, she 
spread the torn scrap out beneath the lamp and 
read in a straggling, illiterate hand : 

“Senorita. Come out and tell no one. I 
bring news. Rosa.” 

Rosa ! Could it be the del Rio girl? No one else 
of whom she could think would address her in 
Spanish, and yet, save when Montana Dan had 
shot up the town and they worked together to 
relieve the injured, Susanna had never exchanged 
a word with her. The Mexican woman had been 
the acknowledged sweetheart of Feliciano Mesega, 
and he was one of Jake’s henchmen. Could this 
be a trap of some sort? Had the rustlers even 
now closed in on the ranch? 

Susanna extinguished her lamp hastily and 
stood lost in thought. She knew that those of the 


260 


TWO-GUN SUE 


outfit who were not out with the posse were patrol- 
ling the range, and it might he that the woman 
alone had eluded them to bring a bona-fide mes- 
sage. The gossip of the town had it that Mesega 
had thrown her over and she might in a spirit of 
revenge have come with news of vital importance. 
Could Susanna afford to disregard the message 
because of the risk involved? 

Her decision was quickly made. Catching up a 
long, dark cloak to conceal her night-robe, she 
took from a drawer the revolver whose mate had 
been left in the debris of the wrecked train and 
passed like a shadow from the room. 

A low light burned in the gallery and by its aid 
she made her way to the front door, fumbled for a 
moment with the lock and bolts, and then slipped 
noiselessly out on the porch. No one was visible, 
but in the shadow cast by a clump of mesquite 
by the rail, against the lesser darkness of the star- 
lit night, a deeper shadow moved, and advancing 
to the steps Susanna crouched half behind the post 
and called in a low, clear tone : 

‘ ‘ I am here. Who wants me?” 

“I, senorita!” The answer came like the sibi- 
lant hiss of a snake, and like a snake something 
writhed cautiously over the ground toward her. 
1 1 Your men, they shoot to keel eef anyt’ing move, 
but I am your frien’, I come ! ’ 9 


EAST IS WEST 


261 


The face of Rosa del Rio, strangely pale in the 
eerie light, was lifted close to her feet and 
Susanna stooped. 

1 ‘ What is it f What have you come to tell me?” 

1 * Feliciano, he return to me. The senorita knows 
about Feliciano and me? I have lofe him, but I 
hate now, and when I hate I pay!” The dark 
face was contorted with sudden passion and the 
splendid eyes flashed. “ I take heem back, I kiss 
him, that I may learn the truth of what they plan, 
he and hees frien’s, and then I tell, and they die, 
all ! But no one weel leesten, they theenk steel I 
lofe him ! Only the senorita, she weel believe and 
be warned, for she, too, ees a woman, and she know 
when hate comes een the heart ! ’ ’ 

In spite of herself Susanna shuddered at the 
venom in the other’s whispered words, but she 
replied steadily : 

“I know, Rosa, and I will believe. What have 
you come to warn me about ? 9 9 

“The raid! Eet comes before the dawn! Jake 
and hees men, and those others who come weeth 
mucho gold to join them! To-night the posse 
rides far on a blind trail and Jake’s men, they 
come ! ’ ’ 

“Come here?” Susanna breathed. She could 
scarcely believe her ears, yet the woman’s low 
tones were filled with passionate sincerity. 


262 


TWO-GUN SUE 


“ Where else? They come to burn and keel, 
senorita, and when the posse returns the cattle 
and the horses are driven off, the rancho ees ashes 
and the senorita and her people are dead! I 
tried to warn the senorita before, but she was not 
here. I knew what was to be, and twice they could 
have been taken like wolves in a trap, but steel the 
senorita did not return. Onlee thees day I learn 
that the raid ees set for to-night and I could not 
come before the dark. Eef the senorita ’s men do 
not keel Feliciano he weel know who tell, and 
then — !” She drew her hand across her throat 
with an expressive gesture and shrugged. “I am 
ready. Life, eet has not been of gr-reat kindness 
to Rosa del Rio, but the senorita shall not die. 
Remember, they come before the dawn!” 

Before Susanna could speak she turned swiftly, 
crept to the clump of mesquite and then rising 
darted toward the low trees at the gate. Susanna 
strained her eyes until the flitting figure was 
swallowed up in the darkness, then she turned 
and sped indoors, straight to Garry ’s room. 

He heard the soft, insistent knocking and, 
springing up, flung open the door. 

‘ ‘ Miss Poindexter ! Is anything wrong ? 9 9 

“A raid!” she cried, but in a subdued tone. 
“ Don’t let Lee know yet, for he is helpless. A 
Mexican woman whom I can trust has just brought 


EAST IS WEST 


263 


me warning that Jake and his outfit have led the 
posse off on a false trail and are coming before 
dawn to burn the ranch and kill us all. I — I am 
sorry to have brought you here to face this, Mr. 
Chanler, but ” 

“I would rather be here at this moment than 
anywhere in the world !” His face was a mere 
blur in the darkness before her, but Susanna 
heard again that note which had thrilled in his 
tones when she had lain, as he thought, uncon- 
scious. “I am at your service now, as always. 
The men, are any of them left in the bunk-house 1 
Wes was to come for me at twelve to take my turn 
patrolling the range but every minute counts .’ 9 

6 c I don 9 t know. I will run out there and see — 9 9 
Susanna turned, but a hand reached out of the 
gloom and grasped her arm. 

“You will stay here!” It was the first time in 
all her life that a command had been issued to her 
in such a tone, and although she gasped, Susanna 
did not resent it. “Go to your room and dress 
and then bring whatever guns and loops of car- 
tridges you have in the house to the living-room. 
If I dared ask you to make a break for it, I’d try 
to get you through to the next ranch, but I know 
you wouldn’t leave your brother, so we’ll have to 
make a stand. If I shouldn’t return from the 
bunk-house in five minutes, go out on the back 


264 


TWO-GUN SUE 


steps and fire a shot straight in the air. That will 
bring in the boys, and if Jake Brower and his out- 
fit are near enough to hear they’ll think your 
crowd fired at random.” 

“If you — don’t return,” Susanna repeated 
dully. 

“In five minutes,” he said in haste. “I may 
find it necessary to reconnoiter a bit and we can’t 
lose any time getting the boys together. Hurry, 
please!” 

Susanna turned and stumbled off to her own 
room, from which she presently emerged fully 
dressed. Lee’s revolver and rifle were in his 
room and she opened the door softly, so as not to 
disturb him, but his voice spoke quietly from the 
darkness. 

“Sue, when Wes comes, get him to move me 
out to the living-room. He can put me on that 
couch under the west window and if they come 
I’ll be as good as the next one.” 

“Lee! You heard?” 

“The wind blew my door open. I should have 
sent you away when you came home this after- 
noon, but I didn’t think they’d dare a raid!” 

“Do you think I would have gone?” Susanna 
demanded. “We’ll be ready for them, Lee, but 
I don’t think you ought to be moved. They’ll 
never get as far as the house ” 


EAST IS WEST 


265 


“If you weren't here, I'd hope that they 
would ! ’ 9 the boy retorted grimly. 1 1 1 want a shot 
at J ake, myself. I called to Chanler when he ran 
past my door just now, but he didn’t hear. Mind 
you tell Wes !” 

Susanna promised, and taking his rifle and car- 
tridges, she left the room. Had it been five min- 
utes since Garry left the house? It seemed 
already that hours had passed since she stood 
talking to him at his door. What had he meant 
about not returning? It was only a few rods to 
the bunk-house and he could not have feared that 
the house was already surrounded ! 

Placing the rifle and cartridges on the table, she 
felt to see if her belt and holster were safe, and 
then stole out upon the back porch. The low 
light of a single lantern glowed from the bunk- 
house and a little sob of thankfulness welled up 
from her heart. He had reached whoever had 
been sleeping there ! While she stood with her 
eyes fixed upon that pin-point of light, there came 
a slight commotion from the corral, the creak of 
the gate, and then a thud of hoofs on the soft 
ground. Someone had gone to call in those who 
were riding the range. There was another halt 
at the ranch gates and then the hoofs drummed 
out upon the road to die away in the distance. 
Two horses had gone instead of one ; that would 


266 


TWO-GUN SUB 


mean that the patrol was scattered, yet both had 
seemed to be going in the same direction! Then 
the light in the bunk-house winked out and a man 
appeared on the run. 

“Tad!” Susanna called guardedly, as he 
approached. 

“It’s me, Miss Sue!” Tad took the steps at 
one jump. “Wes an* the boys’ll be here soon’s 
Clint kin round ’em up. Don’t you worry ! When 
the showdown comes we’ll take keer o’ you an’ 
Lee an’ the ranch! I’m shore glad Jake’s got up 
grit to fight it out, even if he did opine he was 
goin’ to take us by surprise!” 

“Who rode with Clint?” Susanna demanded 
sharply. 

“Nobody. Him an’ me was the onliest ones in 
the bunk-house; the rest are all ridin’ with the 
posse or watchin’ for Jake,” Tad replied. 

“Then where’s Mr. Chanler? Two horses left 
the corral ! ’ ’ 

“Oh, him? I plumb forgot.” Tad showed 
symptoms of embarrassment. “He tol’ me to tell 
you he’d be back before the fun started. You see, 
Miss Sue, when Clint rounds up Wes an’ the boys 
there’ll only be eight of us an’ if Jake comes with 
all his outfit, includin’ them strange hombres 
that’ve jined up with him, there’ll be more’n 
twenty, an’ so — so ” 


EAST IS WEST 267 

“Go on.” Susannah tone was level but her 
breath came in a convulsive gasp. 

“So Mr. Chanler, he reckoned we better git 
some boys from the Bar D, them that ain’t out 
with the posse theirselves. He aims to git thar 
an’ back in a couple of hours.” 

The Bar D! He had ridden alone for help! 
Susanna closed her eyes and one hand went to 
her throat as she swayed slightly, but Tad was 
not aware of her emotion. 

“He had ought to make it, with luck, for he’s 
got Sure-fire under him an’ that hoss can run, if 
he is plumb wicked. But it ’s between here ’n the 
Bar T> that Jake’s outfit’s be’n showin’ up lately. 
The posse would’ve rid out that a ’way to-night, 
only Sim Moser got word they was hidin’ out up 
towards the Triangle Four.” 

“All right.” She could barely articulate the 
words. “Go in to Lee, Tad. He wants you.” 

When the puncher had disappeared within, 
Susanna sank down upon the steps and raised her 
eyes to the cold stars. As suddenly, as irre- 
vocably as the knowledge had come to Garry, had 
it been given her to look into her own heart and 
what she saw there exalted even as it dismayed 
her. She loved him! No matter what he had 
done, no matter that the shadow of Sylvia and 
the injury he had done her should stand forever 


268 


TWO-GUN SUE 


between them. He had said that he would care 
“while East was East and West was West,” but 
East was West, all one, when a man and a woman 
loved each other, however hopelessly, and 
Susanna knew that Garry did not ride alone upon 
his hazardous road, for her heart went with him. 


CHAPTER XIX 


FOR THE CIRCLE SIX 

“fTlHEY won’t try for the gates, sawyin’ that 
A they’re barred. I opine they’ll cut the 
wires and come along the crick bed, — that is, if 
that del Rio girl tol’ you the truth, Miss Sue, 
’bout Sim leadin’ the posse out to’ards the Tri- 
angle Four on a blind trail. Wonder who passed 
the word on to him, anyway, that Jake ’s outfit was 
hidin’ out some ’res ’roun’ thar!” Wes remarked. 

They were holding a council of war in the living- 
room, with only the faint glimmer of light from 
the gallery to reveal their shadowy figures. The 
foreman, Tad, Link Dole and Clint were ranged 
about the center table, Lee on a couch drawn up 
under the side window, and Susanna beside him. 
Wun See, with his ancient smooth-bore, the only 
weapon he had ever been induced to touch, resting 
across his shrunken knees, sat on the back steps, 
with his mild, inscrutable eyes staring into the 
night, and down at the great gates old Porcupine, 
a grizzled veteran of the road, who had drifted in 
from nowhere five years before, to become a fix- 

269 


270 


TWO-GUN SUE 


ture, prowled ceaselessly back and forth on guard. 

“The creek bed,” Susanna repeated as though 
to herself. “The Bar D lies beyond it.” 

“It shore does, and that Chanler hombre was 
plumb loco to try to make it!” Wes retorted dis- 
gustedly. “He’s got sand, though, I’ll say that 
for him! If we wasn’t so shorthanded as ’t is, 
I ’m danged if I wouldn ’t send a couple o ’ the boys 
out for him.” 

“You don’t think he ’s hurt, that they’ve got him 
already?” Lee voiced the question the girl was 
unable to utter. “We didn’t hear any shoot- 
ing ” 

“We did, jus’s Clint come up to us,” Link 
drawled. “A couple o’ pops an’ then a reg’lar 
volley in answer, an’ after that, nothin’! We’d 
’a lit out to see what was goin’ on, only Wes 
’lowed we better git on back yere, Miss Sue bein’ 
alone with jus’ Tad an’ the Chink, seein’ as you 
was hog-tied. ’ ’ 

“I don’t shoot with my leg and Jake’s attack 
didn’t hurt my trigger finger!” Lee announced 
grimly. “You did the right thing, of course, and 
Chanler took a long chance ” 

“Oh, you should have gone to help him!” 
Susanna cried. “You shouldn’t have thought of 
me! I can take care of myself and — and Mr. 
Chanler was our guest!” 


FOR THE CIRCLE SIX 271 

She added the last lamely, aware in the gloom 
that Link was staring at her, open-mouthed. 

“Nobody ast him to go, Miss Sue !” Clint put in 
defensively. 1 1 Mebbe them shots wasn ’t from him 
or Jake’s gang at all. A lot o’ the boys from the 
other ranches, an’ from Dexter, too, are out by 
theirselves, lookin’ for Jake, ’count o’ what he 
done to Big Matt as well as to Lee, an’ a couple o’ 
them amachure posses mought ’a met up with 
each other an’ opened fire. It’s shore a pity Big 
Matt got hit, for Sim ain’t no ’count; done went 
an’ got hisself lost from his own posse t’ other 
night. — Think Porkypine’s awake down at the 
gate?” 

“Reckon he is, an’ if we don’t want to be caught 
nappin’ our own selves we better quit chawin’.” 
The foreman rose. “It’s plumb lucky we got a 
rifle a-piece an’ a couple left over, as well as our 
guns. Link, you take one an’ go into the spare 
bedroom, it’s ’bout the middle o’ the west wall, 
ain’t it?” 

Susanna nodded. 

“It’s Mr. Chanler’s room.” 

“Tad, you an’ me ’ll take care o’ the windows 
here each side o’ the front door,” Wes went on. 
“Lee can keep a lookout through the west win- 
dow, but if Jake’s outfit f oilers the crick bed 
they’ll likely come out some ’res back o’ the bunk- 


272 


TWO-GUN SUE 


house an’ a few of ’em will stop thar to clean it 
out, seein’s they got the notion they’re givin’ us a 
surprise party. The Chink’s all right but he’s 
liable to kill hisself with the first shot o’ that can- 
non o’ his’n, providin’ it goes off a-tall, so Clint 
better be watchin’ out the back entry window. 
Thet’s all. Every one of ’em we git tonight’ll 
save us from wastin’ time down to the Mammon 
City co ’tehouse later on ! ” 

He chuckled dryly as he spoke, but each man 
understood the grim command to account for as 
many of the raiders as he could before he him- 
self was overwhelmed by force of greater num- 
bers. Link took up his rifle and cartridges and 
turned without a word toward the gallery, but 
Clint cleared his throat. 

“Wes, if that Chanler hombre does git through 
to the Bar D thar ain’t likely to be more’n five 
or six o’ the boys that kin be rounded up in time, 

but if one of us was to ride in to Dexter f ” 

“Dexter!” the foreman snorted. “You gone 
loco, Clint? Don’t you savvy that with all them 
greasers an’ mavericks o’ his’n, Jake ’ll have 
every road into town covered? He ain’t no Mex, 
he’s from Oklahoma, an’ he’s got jus’ ’nough 
Injun in him to use his head’s well as his shootin ’- 
irons. If the raid’s on, like the del Rio woman 
says, there ain’t no more chance o’ gittin’ into 


FOR THE CIRCLE SIX 


273 


Dexter tonight — hear that? It’s come, boys!” 

He seized his rifle and, springing for one of 
the front windows, peered through the loop-hole 
they had made in the stout shutters, while Tad 
took his position at the other and Clint ran for his 
post. A single shot had come from the gate and 
the high-pitched, quavering cow-boy yell had risen 
only to be cut short with a choking gurgle. 

“That’s Porcupine!” Lee exclaimed. “He’s 
down ! They ’ve tried the gate, after all ! ” 

“See anything, Tad?” muttered Wes. 

“Nary a move, an’ thar warn’t no tromp o’ a 
bronc, neither!” Tad shifted his position rest- 
lessly. “Mebbe ole Porkypine fired accidental- 
like. It’s shore funny !” 

An ear-splitting roar from the back porch 
silenced him, followed by the thud of a falling 
body, and then a wild scramble and Clint called : 

“That’s the Chink! She kicked an’ slammed 

him cl’ar up against the wall, but he’s up 

Jumpin’ Snakes ! Here they come ! ’ ’ 

His rifle spoke and a scattered volley replied to 
it, then silence ensued. Plainly the attacking 
forces had counted on surprise and were momen- 
tarily disconcerted by their reception. 

“Think they’re closing in from both front and 
back, Wes?” demanded Lee. 

“No. One of ’em must ’a sneaked ’roun’ to 


274 


TWO-GUN SUE 


the gate for a blind an* picked off ole Porkypine; 
got him with a knife, mebbe, for thar warn’t no 
shot but his hi. — Tad, you stay here, Pm goin’ to 
Clint !” 

“111 take your window, Wes.” Sue had 
stepped quietly forward, rifle in hand. “That 
door will hold for awhile if they rush it, but when 
it goes down I know what to do. ’ ’ 

Wes tried to speak but an unintelligible growl 
was the only sound which issued from his throat 
as he patted her shoulder hastily and then sprang 
to the door leading into the entry. At that 
moment a shot echoed from the bedroom, followed 
by a wild yell of pain from outside and a snarl of 
satisfaction in Link’s nasal tones. 

i * That ’s one, anyway ! ’ 9 Lee tried to raise him- 
self higher on the couch. “God, if I could only 
stand ! — Sue, be careful ! If a bullet comes 
through those shutters !” 

“I’m all right.” Susanna’s tone was cool and 
steady. ‘ 6 Tad, to your right ! Something moved 
under that bush ” 

A chorus of hideous yells drowned her voice, 
and the thud of many running feet on soft ground 
from the rear was in turn lost in a crackle of rifle 
fire that quickened into a rattling roar. It was 
punctuated by the bang of the smooth-bore and 


275 


FOR THE CIRCLE SIX 

a sharp tattoo from those guarding the rear, but 
the ping of bullets and shattering of glass showed 
that the raiders were well within range and had 
found their mark. 

Tad darted a longing glance over his shoulder 
and Sue exclaimed: 

4 ‘ Go to them, Tad! With Lee and Link guard- 
ing the sides, I can hold the front alone !” 

He needed no second bidding and as he leaped 
through the entry door a thin wail rose in a 
Celestial voice, followed by high-pitched, furious 
chatter, and he called back : 

* 1 They’ve fired the cook-house an’ Wun See’s 
gone loco!” 

The ear-splitting din continued for what seemed 
an interminable space, then gave place once more 
to sporadic firing which diminished to silence, and 
Wes reappeared for an instant in the doorway. 

“All right?” he demanded anxiously. “None 
of ’em got ’roun’ the house, did they?” 

“There are no signs of them,” Lee responded. 
“Anyone hit, back there?” 

“Not the boys, but the Chink’s done for! The 
danged fool dropped his gun when they fired the 
cook-house, and charged ’em single-handed ! Last 
I seen of him when their rifles spit they was two- 
three on top of him. They’re holdin’ off now for 


276 


TWO-GUN SUE 


a spell but the next time they come on — !” He 
hesitated, glancing at Susanna, but she nodded 
understandingly. 

4 ‘ They ’ll come for the finish,” she said shortly, 
adding: “Hear the horses in the corral! 
They’ve scented the smoke. — Wes, the light’s get- 
ting brighter!” 

The foreman glanced back and Clint called : 

“Bunk-house is a-goin’, an’ the wind is this 
way ! ’ 1 

Lee groaned. 

“If the house catches we’re done for! Wes, 
how many of them are there?” 

“Looked to be a heap over twenty, what I could 
see from the glare o’ the cook-shack. They was 
yowlin’ ’round it like a pack o’ Injuns; biggest 
gang in these parts for twenty year ! — I don’t like 
this quiet, they’re up to some devilment!” 

He turned abruptly and disappeared and Lee 
raised his haggard eyes to meet Susanna’s calm 
ones. 

“Sue, if they get in to close quarters, it’s the 
end ! God, why did you have to reach home just 
to-day ! If you ’d only waited ! ’ ’ 

“Watch that window!” Sue interrupted. 
“This is the time between advances when they’ll 
try to slip around the house. They used poor 


FOE THE CIRCLE SIX 277 

judgment when they started the fire, for it makes 
everything as light as day.” 

The front yard was indeed luridly illumined by 
the glare from the blazing bunk-house and the 
smoke, carried swiftly on the wind, bore an oc- 
casional burst of sparks which made the girl’s 
heart contract with dismay. It could be only a 
question of time, minutes perhaps, before the roof 
above them would catch and to venture above to 
extinguish any incipient blaze would mean to 
become a human target for the rifles of the 
marauders. 

In the weird light the clumps of mesquite and 
low trees stood out in bold relief and cast dis- 
torted shadows, and when the swirling smoke 
lifted Susanna could distinguish two shapeless, 
huddled forms by the gate. If Porcupine were 
dead, he had at least taken his assailant with him. 

Had Garrison Chanler reached the Bar D in 
safety? In spite of the shots, which Link Hole 
had heard, in spite of the fact that Jake’s outfit 
must have crossed the road to descend to the bed 
of the creek at approximately the time of the soli- 
tary rider’s passing, Susanna clung desperately 
to her forlorn hope. Airplane crash and train- 
wreck had spared him ; surely he was not to die at 
the hands of a band of cattle thieves ! He would 


278 


TWO-GUN SUE 


win through, he must! In placing a barrier 
between them which would be forever insurmount- 
able, fate had played a sorry enough jest; it could 
not be ordained that it was to be capped by a 
tragedy ! 

If only her straining eyes could pierce the night, 
even to the far reaches of that road, and see how 
he fared! Had he been unmolested he should 
before now have been raising the alarm at the Bar 
D. Was he alive, unscathed, or perhaps lying 
beneath the body of Sure-fire ? 

Susanna covered her eyes for an instant. Dear 
God, that he might be safe ! As the prayer welled 
up from her bursting heart she knew, as in a 
revealing flash, that the man for whom she begged 
mercy had done no wrong! Somehow, in some 
inexplicable way, Sylvia had lied, or she herself 
had taken the younger girl’s accusation too seri- 
ously. Garry was innocent, and in her soul she 
must have known it from the first moment when 
they stood face to face. But she would not see, 
she would not believe ! Now, by an instinct surer 
than logic or proof, the truth came home to her, 
bringing peace to her troubled spirit, and with it 
a rising tide of hope which could not be stemmed. 

Surely death could not take him now ! He must 
live to know that she believed in him at last, even 


FOR THE CIRCLE SIX 279 

though he could never guess that it was love which 
had brought realization of the truth. 

There came a sudden movement from the couch 
and Lee ’s revolver barked twice. Susanna 
whipped hers from her holster, dropping her 
rifle and leaned closer to the loop-hole just as a 
figure, bent almost double, hurtled around the 
corner of the house and fell writhing before the 
porch. Was it a trick, or had Lee actually 
wounded him? While Susanna hesitated the 
man raised himself on one elbow and the reflec- 
tion from the mounting flames flared full upon his 
face as he slowly lifted a revolver and aimed it 
seemingly straight toward her. Before she could 
fire, however, his arm wavered and dropped and 
he sank back to lie motionless, the smoke curling 
about him as from a bier. 

It was Felix Mesega, the ‘ ‘ Feliciano ’ ’ whose 
vengeance Rosa had feared ! There could be no 
mistaking that evil face, distorted even in the 
agony of death with malign passion. Life which 
had not been “of great kindness” to the Mexican 
girl, had spared her from the consequences of her 
owm act ; would it spare Garrison Chanler, that he 
might return and learn he had not been misjudged 
to the end? — But would Susanna herself be there 
to tell him if he came? 


280 


TWO-GUN SUE 


As though in answer to the unspoken question, 
the two rifles cracked again at the rear of the 
house, followed by that of Link Dole, as a heavy 
detonation and the sound of rending wood came 
from the bedroom. At the same instant Lee fired 
again and Susanna crouched low beneath the sill 
of her window. 

No shot had come from the raiders at this 
onslaught, and the roar of the flames seemed to 
mount higher as the dense curtain of turgid smoke 
billowed before the loop-hole in the shutter. 
When it lifted, the girl saw a figure creeping 
cautiously along the porch floor toward the front 
door and another crawling up the steps. This 
time she did not hesitate and at her first shot the 
creeping figure sprawled inert. With the second 
the man on the steps rose and fled, lurching, 
toward the mesquite bush, only to stagger and 
fall midway. 

The rifles had been discarded and from three 
sides of the house revolvers kept up a volley as 
quickly as they could be reloaded, when above the 
din there came a howl in Tad’s enraged voice and 
a warning shout from Wes, to be drowned in a 
heavy thud which shook the house. 

“A battering-ram!” Lee’s face whitened. 
“Sue dear, it’s no use! They’re breaking down 
the back door! I — I can’t save you !” 


281 


FOR THE CIRCLE SIX 

i 1 Listen ! ’ 9 She flung up one hand, but the guns 
which were answering now from the raiders 
silenced all lesser sounds. 

“What is it! What did you hear?” Lee had 
reloaded his revolver and paused, looking up at 
her. 

“Horses! The gallop of hoofs on the road!” 

“You’re dreaming, Sue! You’re beside your- 
self!” He read her thoughts. “Chanler never 
got through, dear; there wasn’t a chance for 
him!” 

“He did!” Her voice rose to an exultant cry. 
“Don’t you hear them coming? It isn’t the 
posse, they’re away off in the other direction! 
Listen, Lee ! Listen ! ’ ’ 

And this time he did hear, high above the roar 
of fire and crash of shot the rhythmic clatter of 
many horses on the hard-packed road and the dis- 
tant but piercing yip-yeouw of the punchers’ 
battle-cry. 

Lee ’s revolver clattered to the floor and he sank 
back upon the couch with a boyish sob of relief, 
only to start up in swift horror. 

“Sue, what are you doing! God, are you 
mad ? ’ ’ For Sue had unlocked the front door and 
was tugging wildly at the bolts. 

i i The gates ! The gates are barred ! ’ ’ she cried. 
“I’m going to open them, Lee !” 


282 


TWO-GUN SUE 


“You can't! It's certain death to try, Sue; 
you'd never reach them!" he exclaimed. “Sue, 
for God's sake !" 

“I must!" the girl replied through set teeth 
as another jarring blow struck the rear door. 
* ‘ They '11 break through in a minute and it would 
he all over while the boys were trying to batter 
down the gates! I'm going to drag your couch 
over to the front window, Lee, and you must cover 
my going as well as you can. ' ' 

The bolts shot back with a clang and Susanna 
pushed the couch over beneath the window, then 
picked up Lee 's revolver and restored it to him. 

“Wes! Tad! Stop her!" The agonized cry 
rose from Lee's throat, but a fusillade of shots 
was his only answer. “Sue, you'll be shot down 
before you've gone ten steps! For God's sake 
listen to me!" 

“I can't, dear. It's the only chance!" In a 
momentary cessation of noise the hoof -beats rang 
nearer and she stooped and dropped a swift kiss 
upon the boy's forehead, then, revolver in hand, 
opened the door and slipped out. 

The smoke, which had been suffocating in the 
room, cleared in a gust of clean air, then dropped 
again like a blanket, but not before Susanna had 
seen the three dead figures almost at her feet and 
a fourth living one skulking around the unpro- 


FOR THE CIRCLE SIX 


283 


tected east corner of the house. A bullet sang 
past her ear and she fired blindly in the direction 
from whence it had come, then turned and ran for 
the gates. The horses of the rescuers had pulled 
up before them with a mighty clatter and a hub- 
bub of mingled shouts and execrations arose as 
they found their way barred. 

“ Don’t shoot, boys! Pm coming !” Susanna 
thought that her voice had died away in her throat, 
but a fitful moment of quiet had come and the wind 
which wrapped her in a smoke-screen had carried 
her message. 

A mingled cheer and groan arose as those 
beyond the gate recognized at once her pluck and 
her danger, and an answering yell from the raid- 
ers, followed by a renewed outpouring of shot 
and a third resounding crash of the battering-ram, 
showed that the arrival of reinforcements for the 
beleaguered little garrison had been discovered. 

Bending low, Susanna sprinted on, but a bullet 
passed through her sleeve so close to her flesh that 
it seared her arm and two more sped over her 
head, while from behind her there came a gut- 
tural shout. 

Without looking back, she fired over her shoul- 
der. She had almost reached the gates, and 
surely, surely that was the voice of Garrison 
Chanler calling out to her ! With a panting sob. 


284 


TWO-GUN SUE 


she leaped forward, but at that instant her foot 
touched something bulky and soft and she went 
down just as two arms like bands of steel caught 
her from behind and her assailant fell with her. 

Susanna still retained her convulsive grip upon 
her revolver and now she wrenched herself free 
and brought it down with all her force on the head 
of her antagonist. A choking gasp came from 
him and the arms relaxed, while she bounded to 
her feet. She had lost her bearings in the dense 
curtain of smoke, but the frenzied pounding and 
clamor on the gates guided her and in a minute 
she was fumbling at the heavy bars, straining to 
lift them. 

It seemed a veritable age before they slid back 
one by one, and with a cry she leaped aside, just 
as a subdued crash and smashing of wood from 
the house told that the stout back door had fallen 
at last, and the gates themselves swung open. 

The riders poured through with a ringing cheer, 
but the foremost of them swerved his great, raw- 
boned horse, stooped and dragged her yielding 
body up before him, and Garrison Chanler’s voice 
cried into her dulling ears: 

“Well done, Two-gun Sue! My dear! My 
dear!” 


CHAPTER XX 


CLEARING SMOKE 

S USANNA awoke with a gargling gasp and the 
taste of raw new liquor in her mouth, to find 
herself lying on an improvised bed on the living- 
room table, with Doc Rankin, flask in hand, 
standing over her and Garry just behind him. 
Upon the other side, white and hollow-eyed but 
grinning broadly, stood Big Matt Cooley, and 
friendly faces crowded close, but they were all 
Dexter folk! Even the telegraph operator from 
the station, and Jim Holcomb, the postmaster, and 
Faro Jim. . . . 

Susanna closed her eyes, then opened them 
swiftly and they sought Garry’s face. 

“Lee! He’s safe f” 

“All right, Sue dear!” Her brother’s voice 
called reassuringly. 

“And Wes and Tad and the rest of the 

boys ?” She struggled weakly to sit up. 

“Still kickin’, Miss Sue, but nicked up, some,” 
Link drawled. He was holding a reddened rag to 
the side of his head. “I got one maverick but the 
second shore did brand me! Reckon the Doc’ll 

285 


286 


TWO-GUN SUE 


hev to fix me out with one o’ these here rubber 
ears I heard tell of! — Not me first, Doc! Wes 
needs you most.” 

Clint and Tad, the latter with one arm hanging 
limp, were supporting between them the fore- 
man’s drooping figure, and Susanna held out her 
hands to Garry, who lifted her from the table. 

“Put him here! — Oh, Doc Rankin, he’s 
not 1” 

“Shot through the neck, but it missed the jugu- 
lar. Don’t let the blood scare you, Miss Sue!” 
The doctor -was making a hasty but thorough 
examination. ‘ 4 Clint, you look to be spry enough 
in spite o’ them cuts. Git me some clean sheets 
an’ tear ’em up. Got any way o’ heatin’ water in 
the house ?” 

“The old woodstove is still set up in the back 
entry.” Susanna’s strength had returned in a 
flash and she flew to do his bidding. “If I had 
some kindling ? ’ ’ 

“They’s a-plenty ’roun’ the door an’ window 
casings!” Tad grinned faintly. 

“I’ll help you, Miss Susanna,” Garry volun- 
teered, but she paused in the doorway. 

“How — how did you get here, Big Matt?” she 
demanded. “You and — and all of Dexter! I 
thought you were hurt ! Where are the boys from 
the BarD?” 


CLEARING SMOKE 


287 


‘ ‘ Don ’t know nothin ’ ’bout them ! ’ 9 The sheriff 
responded with a twinkle. “ Garry rid in to town 
awhile back like all hell was after him an’ I got 
well all-fired quick when I heard the news that del 
Rio girl had brung you ! 9 9 

“How did you know it was Rosa?” asked 
Susanna quickly. 

“We — we come acrost her later.” The sheriff 
shifted awkwardly from one huge foot to the 
other. “Doc’s a-waitin’ for that there hot water, 
Miss Sue!” 

“I — I forgot.” She turned hastily, but in the 
entry as she dropped on her knees before the 
stove, she raised her eyes to Garry, who had fol- 
lowed her. “I don’t know why I fainted again. 
It was so silly !” 

“It was the bravest, most splendid — ” he 
checked himself. “I didn’t go to the Bar D after 
all, you see. I decided I’d get more of a crowd 
together at Dexter, and I did. The whole town 
turned out, to a man!” 

“I saw,” she nodded. “But Wes said Jake 
would have every road covered which led there. ’ ’ 

“I fancy he had.” Garry turned to gather up 
the broken splinters of woodwork which littered 
the floor. “I encountered a couple of his men, but 
they didn’t put up a very protracted argument. 
We got here just in time, though if it hadn’t been 


288 


TWO-GUN SUE 


for you — Wes must have barred the gates 
again when they rode in after Clints warning.” 

Susanna’s eyes darkened. 

“Poor old Porcupine!” she murmured. “He 
was just a derelict when we took him in, but he 
died game ! — and Wun See, too ! He lost his head 
when they fired the cook-house and dashed out 
straight into their hands ” 

A weird chant in a queer, falsetto key inter- 
rupted her and in the aperture left by the fallen 
door appeared a wrinkled yellow face, wreathed 
with an ecstatic smile, despite the blood and dirt 
which caked it. 

“Wun See!” gasped Susanna. 

“Allee same clook man!” he chortled, and they 
saw that he waved a stained meat cleaver in one 
claw-like hand and a long, murderous butcher’s 
knife in the other. “Bang-bang no good, klick-ee 
both ways, knifee say sl-uck ! an’ Mex’can go dead 
quick. They gettee clook-house, Wun See gettee 
them, three! — Lee boy no samee hurt, Mlissie?” 

“No, Wun See, he’s safe.” Susanna repressed 
a little shiver but her eyes shone. “I’m glad you 
are, too ! Go in there and tell them. ’ ’ 

A roar greeted the Chinaman’s appearance and 
when the door had closed behind them, Sue asked : 

“What happened after you all rode in? I 


CLEARING- SMOKE 289 

know Jake’s outfit was driven off, of course, but 
what became of him? Did anyone see him?” 

“I don’t know.” Garry shook his head. “I 
brought you in and laid you on the table and then 
ran back to join the others. There was some 
pretty stiff fighting for a few minutes, but it 
turned into a rout and, although we haven’t had 
time yet to go out and look around, I don’t think 
many got away. The bunk-house is just a heap of 
embers now.” 

The fire in the stove was roaring briskly and 
the water in shallow pans upon its top had already 
commenced to seethe. Susanna, watching it, 
sighed. 

* ‘ It’s horrible, isn’t it? I am not as blood- 
thirsty as it may seem, Mr. Chanler, but I wish 
Jake had been accounted for! I shall never feel 
safe for Lee while he is alive and free to visit 
further vengeance on him ! Lee shot Felix 
Mesega, the man Rosa hated and feared, did you 
know. I recognized his face in the light from 
the burning bunk-house. You met her, the sheriff 
said?” 

Garry hesitated. 

“We found her,” he amended at length in a 
lowered tone. “You would have to know some- 
time, Miss Susanna. She was lying in the ditch, 


290 


TWO-GUN SUE 


shot through the heart, where the Dexter road 
turns into the highway. ’ 9 

“Oh, poor girl!” Susanna cried in real dis- 
tress. 1 1 She said she was ready, that life had not 
been kind to her, but I shall never forget that, 
whatever her motive in warning us, we all owe 
our lives to her ! — That must have been the volley 
of shots which Wes and the others heard when 
Clint reached them with the warning . 9 9 

“Water hot, yit, Miss Sue?” Link stuck his 
bandaged head in the door. “We be hi countin’ 
up what that there op’rator o’ the click machine 
calls casualties. Tad’s got a ball through the arm 
an’ Clint’s battered up some where the door fell in 
on him, but that there locoed Chink ’s shore a lucky 
cuss; got a knock on the head an’ ’nough greaser 
knife jabs to let daylights out o’ a white man, an’ 
he’s r’arin’ ’roun’ real happy an’ pleased with 
hisself, an’ sociable as a ole maid at a party!” 

“But your head, Link?” Susanna murmured. 

He grinned sheepishly. 

“I’m shy most o’ one ear, but it ain’t goin’ to 
harm me none, ’ceptin’ to spoil my good looks. 
The folks you brung from Dexter got off right 
easy, Mister Chanler; only a few stray shots hit 
’em an’ no real harm done, at that.” 

Susanna took up a pan of water and motioned 
toward the other. 


CLEARING SMOKE 


291 


1 1 1 ’m glad of that, ’ ’ she said. 1 ‘ Come. Thanks 
to Mr. Chanler, we have all escaped the worst.” 

She led the way, but as she set the pan down 
upon the table, ready to the doctor’s hand, the 
front door opened and Bill Briggs appeared. The 
ex-chauffeur’s face was very grim and although 
he nodded to her, he made straight for the sheriff. 

4 'Got a little news for you, sir,” he began. 
"One of your deputies is lyin’ outside, dead. I 
croaked him. ’ ’ 

"You!” Big Matt exclaimed, and a little mur- 
mur arose from the townsmen behind him. "All 
my dep’ties rode with the posse!” 

"This one didn’t, not for long.” Bill gazed 
frankly from one grave face to another. "He led 
the whole gang of us off near the Triangle Four 
and down into that gully by the river. It looked 
like a place where a bunch like that Jake’s would 
hang out, but I kept my eye on this guy, for he ’d 
got himself lost before, and I was leery of him.” 

"Not Sim Moser!” ejaculated Wes. 

"That’s the bird,” responded Bill. "Sure 
enough, he sent us all scoutin’ round an’ then 
made s quiet little getaway straight back here to 
the ranch, with me trailin’ him; I drove a taxi 
once in New York, and I know how. He tied his 
hoss a little way back where the wires was already 
cut for him to get through, and when I saw that I 


292 


TWO-GUN SUE 


knew I had the right dope, so I followed him. He 
came sneakin’ up on that side of the house,’ ’ Bill 
jerked a thumb toward the east , — 1 1 and when he 
got close he pulled his handkerchief off his neck 
and tied it over his face, all but the eyes.” 

The murmur among the listeners had changed 
to excited exclamations, in which there ran an 
ominous undercurrent, but Bill was unmoved. 

‘ 1 I’m a stranger out here, of course, but if you 
don’t believe me, get one of Jake’s gang and put 
him through the third degree. I’m giving it to 
you straight. Sim pulled his revolver and 
crawled up close to that middle window that some- 
body was pokin ’ a gun through, and fired. By the 
flash I saw the guy inside was Link, and the shot 
sailed by him and splintered the bed-post.” 

“It tooken my ear with it,” Link announced. 
“Where was you, Buddy, while Sim was poppin’ 
away at me?” 

1 i Creepin ’ up on him, ’ ’ Bill replied. ( ‘ He fired 
quick the first time, but he didn’t get a second 
chance, for I jumped him. I didn’t want to make 
any noise about it, because I figured his friends 
knew he was there and somebody ’d come to join 
him, so I — I give him a rap on the conk with the 
butt of my gun and he went down like a log. I 
thought he was out for keeps, so I dragged him 
behind some bushes and tied my handkerchief 


CLEARING SMOKE 


293 


over my own face like he ’d done and crawled back, 
and pretty soon one of those spigs come wormin’ 
through the grass toward me and whispered had 
I got him, meanin’ Link here. I got the spig 
instead, but just then somethin’ jumped me from 
behind and a knife scratched me between the 
shoulder blades. I hadn’t made sure enough of 
Sim.” 

“Bill!” Susanna cried. 

“It’s gospel, boys!” Big Matt had turned Bill 
around with a hand on his shoulder and they all 
saw the stained rent in his shirt. ‘ * Go on, Bill. ’ ’ 

The ex-chauffeur glanced half-apologetically 
toward Susanna. 

“I — I got the knife away from him, and this 
time I didn’t take any chance.” He was evi- 
dently choosing his words with care. “You’ll 
find him out there under Link’s window, and the 
spig, too.” 

“Let’s go out an’ hev a look ’roun’ anyways, 
boys, an’ see what-all damage we done to Jake’s 
outfit.” The sheriff turned to the others. “If 
Sim turned yeller like Bill says, it warn’t from 
no likin’ for Jake, but because somebody bought 
him over ; the same cuss, whoever he is, that sent 
them mavericks down from Dallas, or some’eres, 
to horn in. — Bill, you stay an’ let the doc look at 
that back o’ your’n.” 


294 


TWO-GUN SUE 

"Not me!” laughed Bill. “I got stuck worse 
than this in more than one scrap with a dago gang 
in New York, and I want to go along.” 

Wes’s neck had been bandaged and he started 
up as the rest crowded out, but the doctor held 
him back, and Lee called from the couch : 

"Wait a minute, Chanler ! When Sue was run- 
ning for the gate, two men started around the 
corner of the house after her. I missed the first 
but dropped the second, and he yelled out some- 
thing as he fell. He ’s lying right under the porch 
railing, and I have a particular reason for want- 
ing to know what he looks like. Will you tell 
me?” 

"Of course.” Garry nodded and went out the 
door. The Chinaman had disappeared in the 
direction of the rear and now his high-pitched, 
sing-song chant arose once more from the entry, 
accompanied by the rattle of stove-lids and pans. 

"Wun See has the right idea,” Lee remarked. 
"If he can find anything left from the ashes of the 
cook-house, the boys will all be glad of breakfast 
when they come in ; it’s almost morning . 9 9 

A dull light was indeed stealing over the rolling 
mesquite, the stars had disappeared and faint 
streaks of pink barred the eastern sky. 

* 1 There are bags of coffee and flour in the store- 
room, and a barrel of sugar,” Susanna remarked. 


CLEARING SMOKE 295 

“Lee, why did you ask about that last man you 
shot? You don ’t think it could be ?” 

She left her sentence unfinished as Garry 
re-entered quickly. 

“I found your fellow, all right,’ ’ he announced. 
“He was a white man, around forty, I should say, 
with a black beard and an old scar across the 
upper part of his face. His shirt sleeves are 
rolled up, and there’s a double arrow tattooed on 
one forearm.” 

“Jake Brower himself!” cried Susanne. “Lee, 
you said he was your man, and now you’ve got 
him!” 

Lee sighed with satisfaction and lay back, but 
Garry smiled slightly. 

“Is that a habit out here?” he asked innocently. 
“Do you always get your man when you go after 
him?” 

Susanna flamed scarlet. 

“I — I’m going to help Wun See!” she declared 
hurriedly, and turned to the entry door. 

“We aim to, Mr. Chanler.” It was Wes who 
replied. “Now that Jake’s dead, I reckon I know 
what Lee’s quarrel with him was ’bout an’ it’s no 
harm tellin’. No hombre out here kin mistreat 
a woman, no matter if she is the kind Rosa was, 
without gittin’ called, if there’s a reg’lar two- 
fisted man ’roun’.” 


296 


TWO-GUN SUE 

“But I thought Mesega V 7 began Garry. 

1 1 Shore. ’ 7 Wes nodded. i ‘ Him an 7 J ake got in 
a little argvment down to Dexter one day an’ 
Felix was gettin’ the worst end of it when Rosa 
sailed in to help him, an’ Jake started to give her 
the same, only Lee happened to be moseyin’ long 
an’ declared hisself in. Nobody ain’t never 
whipped Jake afore, an’ he didn’t aim to rest ontil 
he’d got Lee. Ain’t that so, son?” 

“Reckon it is.” Lee smiled faintly. “Rosa 
repaid me, anyway, last night.” 

“I calc ’late she was plannin’ more on gittin’ 
back at Felix.” Wes shook his head. “It’s like 
I tol’ Miss Sue once, there ain’t nothin’ a gal, 
white or Mex, won’t do to git square with a 
hombre that’s throwed her down.” 

Susanna, entering with the huge coffee-pot and 
a stack of cups and plates on a tray, heard the last 
remark and her memory carried her swiftly back 
to the day she found Lee wounded on the range. 
In speaking of Rosa then and her connection with 
the probable assailant, Wes had said: “Good 
or bad, when a feemale gits mad at some pore 
feller ’cause she cain’t put her brand on him 
there ain’t nothin’ too ornery for her to accuse 
him of!” 

Sylvia was only a woman, too, and spoiled by 
the abject adoration of everyone she had known. 


CLEARING SMOKE 297 

What if her accusation of Garry had been only an 
impetuous outburst of hurt pride and pique! 

Susanna had no time to turn the thought over 
in her mind, for the tramp of many feet sounded 
on the porch and the sheriff and his men crowded 
once more into the room. Yet her eyes, with a 
troubled question in their depths, had sought 
Garry ’s face and the sedulous way he avoided her 
gaze confirmed her suspicion. Could it be that a 
sister of hers had stooped to so despicable a 
revenge for a fancied slight! 

“Wal, we found one of ’em still breathin’, an’ 
he talked some before he died.” The sheriff’s 
tone was portentous. “It war an ole friend of 
our’n, Montana Dan. Seems like he jined up with 
Jake’s outfit after he tried to shoot up the town 
an’ they’ve be’n rustlin’ in three counties. Bill 
was correct ’bout Sim; the ornery dawg’s be’n a 
pardner o’ Jake’s right along an’ it’s him them 
strange mavericks reported to for Jake’s outfit 
soon’s they sneaked into town. He’s been givin’ 
’em fifty a day, ’cordin’ to Dan, and he never saw 
that much in his life afore ! — You know Jake’s out 
there drilled through the head!” 

Lee nodded. 

“But what else did Montana Dan say!” he 
demanded. “Who were these strangers and 
where did they come from!” 


298 


TWO-GUN SUE 


“Dan didn’t get so far as to say that.” Big 
Matt shook his head. * ‘ The onliest thing he knows 
was he come on Sim twicet this week talkin’ to a 
stranger up by Grosscup’s Pool, an’ once he seen 
this hombre give Sim a little raw-hide satchel. 
Dan’s dead, an’ I’m namin’ no names, Lee, but the 
feller was spindlin’ and old and dandified, with 
grizzled hair an ’ a little p ’inted gray chin- whisker. 
Kin you call to mind ary stranger ’roun’ Dexter 
lately that deescription would fit?” 

Her brother uttered a startled, half-incredulous 
exclamation, but Susanna scarcely heard. Dacon 
Acheson! He, the suave Wall Street magnate, 
had leagued himself with outlaws and gangsters, 
had descended to murder itself to gain possession 
of the Circle Sixl 


CHAPTER XXI 
aladdin's lamp 

“T INK git back yet with that new lumber for 
the bunk house f ” Wes asked as Tad came 
around the corner of the back porch. It was two 
days later and save for the shiny new door behind 
them and the two blackened spaces where the out- 
buildings had stood, no evidences remained of the 
recent battle. 

“No signs of him.” Tad seated himself on the 
lowest step with a wary eye on his bandaged arm. 
“Feemales is shore strange critters! That there 
gal that waits on table down to the Eatin' House — 
the red-headed, freckle-faced one — couldn't see 
Link for dust afore he got his ear clipped, an 7 
now that he's humlier'n ever, danged if she ain't 
makin ' up to him ! Where is ever 'body f ' ' 

‘ ‘ Clint an ' Bill are ridin ' line an ' Lee 's 'bout the 
only one's you kin put your hands on when you 
want him!” The foreman's face was a study. 
“Reckon that's only 'cause he's hog-tied an' cain't 
move hisself. Miss Sue goes wanderin' 'roun' the 

299 


300 


TWO-GUN SUE 


range like she’d lost somethin’ an’ as for that 

Chanler hombre ! Tad, there’s a-plenty goin’ 

on we cain’t figger out noways. ” 

“We figgered out almighty plain what that — 
Acheson was up to ! ” Tad growled with a mouth- 
filling oath. 

“Mebbe we did, but we cain’t prove it!” 
retorted Wes. “Montana Dan’s dead an’ so is 
Sim, an’ their word wouldn’t be tooken noways 
’gainst his’n, ’cause Miss Sue herself says he’s 
shore some big smoke back where he comes from 
an’ he’s got inflooence all through the West. 
’Sides, all them strange mavericks in Jake’s outfit 
that wasn’t plugged full o’ holes vamoosed an’ 
the law cain’t tech Acheson without witnesses.” 

“The law ain’t what I got on my mind,” Tad 
observed darkly. ‘ ‘ I ain ’t hankerin ’ for any more 
witnesses an’ neither is Big Matt, for all he’s 
sheriff, nor the hull o’ Dexter. All we ast is to 

meet up with that coyote an’ have a rope 

handy ! Then let his inflooence come ’long an ’ cut 
him down ! Chanler shore proved hisself aces high 
when he rode alone for help time o ’ the fight, but 
if he ain’t loco he’s up to somethin’ now that’s 
mighty cur ’us, millin’ ‘roun’ all by hisself where 
you’d least calc ’late to run acrost him, for all the 
world like Acheson hisself did when he was here. 
Clint seen him yestiddy down by the crick holdin’ 


ALADDIN’S LAMP 301 

a confab with another strange hombre with a 

beard an’ great big ’roun’ specs, an’ ” 

‘ ‘An’ a surveyor’s transit?” demanded Wes 
suddenly. “When he was here afore Sim told 
Big Matt he seen him with the same feller out on 
the line o’ the Hundred-an ’-Four ! Why in time 
did Miss Sue bring him back, an’ what’s he doin’ 
here?” 

“Why’d he come in the first place?” countered 
Tad. “He knowed this here Acheson an’ they’re 

up to the same tricks, an’ if I was Lee ! 

Here ’s Link now. Who ’s he got with him ? ’ ’ 

At that precise moment Susanna, seated on a 
rock in the clump of mesquite beside the spring a 
good half-mile away heard the branches rustle 
behind her and turned to find Garry standing 
there. 

“I beg your pardon,” he began formally. “I 
did not know you were here. ’ ’ 

Susanna rose precipitately. 

‘ ‘ I — I was just going ! But that ’s not true, 

of course, and it’s silly of us to avoid each other 
like the plague ! ” She laughed somewhat shakily, 
but a sort of desperate earnestness rang in her 
tones. “I don’t suppose it matters to you what 
I think but — but my sister will be home to-morrow 
and before she comes there is something that I 
want you to know. ’ ’ 


302 


TWO-GUN SUE 


“ Won’t you sit down again ?” he asked quietly. 
When she complied he seated himself near and 
waited, but somehow she found it difficult to begin. 
“It matters very much to me what you think on — 
on any subject, but don’t tell me if it troubles 
you. ’ 7 

“It will trouble me if I don’t.” Susanna hesi- 
tated and then plunged. “You see, Mr. Chanler, 
when I started East to find you I thought you were 
— I mean, I had formed an opinion of you that I 

found was not true, in the least, and I 1 

couldn’t understand. Then we started on our 
return journey and you kept on being a different 
sort of man entirely than I had supposed and I 
began to wonder if perhaps I hadn’t made a mis- 
take in the very beginning, if I hadn’t misunder- 
stood what had been told to me.” 

“Please, Miss Poindexter !” he exclaimed as she 
paused. “What does it matter what I am? 
To-morrow ” 

“I want you to know before to-morrow comes 
that — that I don’t believe anything I heard! I 
haven’t believed it, really, from the minute I saw 
you, but I wouldn’t admit even to myself that I 
was in the wrong. I’ve been horribly mistaken 
and unjust and wicked, but I had to tell you ! I ’m 
not asking you to forgive me, I can’t! It’s just 
that I wanted you to know the truth.” 


ALADDIN’S LAMP 


303 


He leaned toward her and his eyes looked as 
they had the day he came upon her in her little 
pink gown in the Lindholm orchard. 

1 ‘Why did you want me to know?” he asked, 
very low. 1 ‘ Did you care how I felt, knowing what 
your opinion of me must be? When — when did 
you let yourself believe ?” 

“When you went for help and I thought you had 
met Jake’s outfit, and — and would never come 
back again. ’ ’ Her own voice had sunk almost to 
a whisper and her eyes were fixed on the sluggish 
little stream which meandered between two stones 
at her feet. “I realized then that it couldn’t be 
true and never had been, and I had to tell 
you! You had a right to know that — that no 
one in the world could think anything of you that 
was not all I would have them think of — of 
Lee.” 

She had caught herself up on the last words 
and Garry watched her, the radiance deepening 
in his own eyes, but he did not speak, and for a 
little space silence fell between them. Then he 
rose. 

“This is — fine of you, Miss Poindexter.” His 
tones were quiet, but they trembled slightly. “I 
can’t tell you how I appreciate what you have 
said, nor what your faith means to me! I can’t 
say anything now, but to-morrow — to-morrow per- 


304 


TWO-GUN SUE 


haps it may be that I can tell you something which 
I, too, have discovered.” 

Susanna averted her face and, rising also, 
moved a little away from him. 

6 1 1 — I must go to Lee now ! ’ ’ she murmured, 

but a ringing shout from her companion fell upon 
her amazed ears and she turned. Garry had fallen 
upon his knees beside the spring and was tearing 
frantically at a great flat stone. 

“I’ve got it!” he cried. “I knew it must be 
here somewhere or that old fox wouldn’t have 
known, and I’ve searched every foot of the 
range ” 

“What is it?” Susanna exclaimed. “Nobody 
ever comes to this old spring. It is drying up and 
the water has been brackish and queer ” 

6 ‘ 1 Queer ’ ! ” He caught the word from her lips. 
“Your brother took me into his confidence after 
the fight and told me the difficulties you’ve been 
laboring under and the danger of losing the Circle 
Six, as well as what you learned from Hartwell 
on the train, about Acheson taking up the out- 
standing notes which could be called in in a fort- 
night. Do you know why he could not wait even 
that little time, Susanna? — Why he backed Jake 
Brower’s gang to murder you all?” 

He was still tugging at the huge stone and 
neither was conscious in their excitement of the 


ALADDIN’S LAMP 305 

fact that he had called her by the more familiar 
name. 

i ‘I’ve tried to puzzle it out, but I couldn’t, for 
the Circle Six is bound to fall into his hands.” 
She laughed ruefully. ‘ 4 Only a miracle could 
save it, and I haven’t a wishing wand or Alad- 
din’s lamp!” 

“But you have! You have! — Look!” He had 
flung the flat stone aside at last and beneath it the 
pool of water lay still as molten wax, with murky 
iridescent streaks floating upon its surface. “If 
you haven’t Aladdin’s lamp you have that which 
would keep it alight and potent, that which lights 
the lamps of the world ! It ’s oil, Susanna ! ’ ’ 

‘ ‘ Oil ! ’ ’ she gasped. i i Are you sure 1 Why, we 

never suspected, never dreamed !” 

‘ i I did ! ’ ’ Garry interrupted. “Not here on your 
ranch at first, but somewhere in the vicinity. 
That’s what I came to Dexter for in the first 
place ; I ’m supposed to be an expert geologist and 
I’ve had a rodman down here with me for weeks, 
staying over at Henshaw’s. We wanted to keep 
the whole thing quiet, you see, so that my partners 
in Wall Street and I could get hold of the best 
leases before the rush started, in the event that I 
struck oil. We’ve followed the logical course of 
the line down from the big fields farther north, 
and I’ve been looking for outcroppings of sand- 


306 


TWO-GUN SUE 


stone or shale or limestone — but you wouldn’t 
know about that. It’s here, Susanna, here! 
Wealth uncounted and the promise of more oozing 
out of the ground before your eyes ! ’ 9 

“I can’t believe it! It seems that I must be 
dreaming and will wake up any minute to find the 
old fear hanging over me, the losing fight to take 
up again ! ’ ’ Susanna the self-contained was laugh- 
ing and sobbing at once. 4 * Oh, I must tell Lee and 
Wes !” 

She turned and paused transfixed, for side by 
side, peering over the clump of mesquite, appeared 
the kindly, anxious face of David Hartwell and 
the round, astonished one of the ubiquitous Peter 
Bigelow. 

“Oil! Oil!” Garry cried exultantly. “Su- 
sanna’s won her fight! We’ve struck oil on the 
Circle Six!” 


CHAPTER XXII 


SUSANNA GETS HER MAN 

T HE quick-falling dusk was settling down over 
the ranch and the little group gathered on the 
front porch were gazing with introspective eyes 
out over the mesquite toward the gates which once 
more stood wide. Lee, who had been carried out 
to the couch to join the others, saw as in a mirage 
great derricks and cranes cleaving the flat sky- 
line, and a vast, never-ceasing golden flow like 
lava from a magic volcano to sweep before it all 
memory of the gray years ; but the vision of the 
girl beside him, holding his hand tightly in hers, 
was bigger and more far-seeing. People, the 
hundreds of all races who would gather there on 
the range to toil and strive and gain and live out 
their lives, making of Dexter a greater community 
than even her father’s dreams had pictured before 
roseate hopes gave place to the apathy of hopeless 
failure. He had but laid the burden at their feet, 
and it was theirs now to take up with its added 
responsibilities and graver duties, to those faith- 
ful pioneers who had builded with them and those 
who would come. 


307 


308 


TWO-GUN SUE 

i 6 What are you thinking of ? ’ ’ The elderly attor- 
ney, Pete Bigelow and Garry had been talking a 
little apart, and it was the latter who voiced the 
question. 

“I hardly know how to put it into words,” 
Susanna smiled. “I was thinking of Dexter a 
year from now, and ten, and twenty ! What shall 
we make of it, we who hold it in our hands 
to-night? We’ve seen it grow from wagon-tents 
to shacks and we’re proud of it! It will be a 
bigger Dexter, of course, but will it be a greater 
one?” 

Pete laughed. 

“You’ll be a million miles away, Miss Poin- 
dexter! You’ll forget what a cattle town is like ! 
Paris, London !” 

“I shall be here,” Susanna interrupted quietly. 

“I think I know what Miss Poindexter means.” 
Garry nodded gravely. “It isn’t the immediate 
result, the material gain, but the changes that will 
come and the need for directing them, like the 
course of a stream, that they may enrich and not 
devastate.” 

Susanna gave him a grateful glance, but Pete 
exclaimed. 

“You’d have one immediate and material pic- 
ture of devastation, all right, if you could see old 
Dynamo Acheson’s face when he hears you’ve 


SUSANNA GETS HER MAN 309 

discovered what a Golconda you’ve been herding 
cattle on, all these years ! Lord, I wish I could be 
there ! When I saw Dad ’s man in St. Louis and 
found Dad had wired ahead for him to give me 
all the inside dope on Acheson’s little proposition 
for a new line down from Fort Worth to this burg, 
I smelled a rat because of all the secret red tape, 
and because I knew old Dynamo. I made up my 
mind I’d run down here and see what he had up 
his sleeve, but upon my soul I didn’t think it was 
battle, murder, and sudden death! I can’t see it 
right, even yet; he’s driven more than one rival 
house to the wall and been guilty of every sort of 
sharp practice that could get by in the financial 
game, but for him to ally himself with brigands 
and gunmen, and conspire to wipe out a whole 
family just to gain possession of one problematic 
oil lease when he has so many other gigantic inter- 
ests — it ’s beyond my comprehension ! ’ ’ 

“Not if the conspiracy were one of revenge on 
the part of others and already hatched, needing 
only support which could be supplied with a mini- 
mum risk of detection, and if not one oil lease 
against several other interests, but crowning for- 
tune or utter bankruptcy and ruin were in the 
scales,” David Hartwell remarked. “As it is we 
can bring nothing home to Acheson, we have not a 
shadow of proof to connect him with Jake 


310 


TWO-GUN SUE 


Brower’s activities; and the tales of dead men, 
unsubstantiated, do not stand in a court of law. 
I represent here in Texas some of the Wall Street 
operators who are in touch with his affairs in a 
confidential way, and I have kept the wires hot 
for the past two days. The tide has turned against 
him and the man is on the rocks at last! This 
motor tour was a blind; he was lying low for a 
time, granting himself a sort of moratorium, but 
when he stopped here and stumbled across oil he 
saw his chance and plunged. Then he was in 
mortal fear lest, at the last moment, these children 
should discover the wealth which had lain unnoted 
because it was never looked for, knowing that with 
such security it would only be a matter of days or 
even hours before they could obtain enough capital 
to cover the outstanding notes many times, and 
so with his back against the wall he made terms 
with Jake!” 

“ We’ll never know how he established commu- 
nications with him, I suppose, nor how he found 
that Sim Moser was yellow and would act as go- 
between,” Lee observed. 

“ I think we can figure that some of his hirelings 
circulated among the riffraff of Dexter, greasers 
and such, and soon got in touch with Jake’s spies 
or sympathizers,” the attorney replied, rising. 
“If you’re ready now, my boy, I’ll call Wes and 


SUSANNA GETS HER MAN 


311 


one of the others to help tote you in, for we have 
those papers to go over, and I must leave on the 
first train in the morning. ’ ’ 

1 1 Garry and I can carry him , 9 9 Pete volunteered. 
“Lord, but I wish Pd had been here for the big 
show T ! Garry has all the luck ! 9 9 

Left alone, Susanna cradled one knee in her 
clasped hands and stared up at the stars, which 
were beginning to twinkle in the velvety sky. 
What would the next day bring forth? A miracu- 
lous change had come in the last few magic hours, 
but the greatest change of all had come in her own 
heart. The Circle Six was saved, the future was 
assured for all of them, and yet despite wealth and 
all that it would bring the years stretched before 
her empty indeed. 

Sylvia loved him, of course. That could be the 
only explanation of her resentment and despair 
at his departure. She had never known a man in 
her limited circle who had not succumbed to her 
charms and she had builded air castles which had 
tumbled about her ears. Garry had understood, 
he had been willing to return and make amends 
for the harm he had all unwittingly wrought. And 

she ? Knowing what she knew of his heart 

and her own, must she stand aside ? 

“Someone is riding up the road.” It was 
Garry 9 8 voice just behind her and all at once she 


312 


TWO-GUN SUE 


heard, faint and hollow in the distance but rapidly 
approaching, the hoof-heats of a single horse. 

“From Dexter, probably/ ’ Susanna replied 
quietly, wondering why her heart should so sud- 
denly flutter in her breast. “The news must be 
spreading since Wes sent those telegrams for 
Uncle Dave. ’ ’ 

“Susanna.” He seated himself beside her. “I 
meant to wait until to-morrow, but after what you 
told me this afternoon, there by the spring — now 
that I know you believe in me, even before you 
have proof — I want you to know that I have never 
spoken of love to a woman in all my life until 
to-night. I have never offered any woman what 
I could not give, and there has been nothing in my 
heart to bestow until you came to me!” 

“Please!” She rose to her feet and stood 
swaying with one hand upon the porch railing. 
“Oh, I wish you hadn’t! It is impossible, there 
is always — Sylvia.” 

The hoof -beats were louder now, pounding along 
the road toward the gates, but neither heard. 

“Sylvia!” he repeated. “That foolish little 
girl? Susanna, this is more than quixotic, it is 
insane ! I should never have spoken, God knows, 

but to-day I saw, I knew ! Susanna, do you 

think I shall let you go for a spoiled child’s whim? 
I have loved you always, I think; even before I 


SUSANNA GETS HER MAN 


313 


knew that you really existed I loved the image of 
the woman who might be you, and waited for her. 
Have I found you only to lose you?” 

The horse swerved in at the gate and clattered 
up the drive and Susanna gasped: 

‘ 4 Sylvia ! ’ ’ 

“Yes, Sylvia!” A girlish figure sprang from 
the saddle and whirled up the steps to her sister’s 
arms. 4 4 Oh, Susanna, where have you been ? Why 
did you go away like that ? I thought I should die 
these last two days when they wouldn’t let me 
come home or tell me anything except that there ’d 
been a fight between our boys and Jake Brower’s 
outfit and that Jake was dead and his dreadful 
gang broken up! I should have gone crazy if it 
hadn’t been for Harold!” 

She had not seen the man standing in the 
shadows and Susanna kissed her very gravely. 

4 4 We were not sure yet that the roads were 
quite safe for you, dear. You should not have 
come alone so late ” 

4 4 But Harold is away — he’d gone to Mammon 
City to get me some new phonograph records and 
hadn’t got back — and one of the boys from the 
Triangle Four came with a story about oil being 
found here and that we were all rich ! I — I just 
couldn ’t wait ! Sue, it isn ’t true ! ’ ’ 

4 4 Yes, dear. You can have everything in the 


314 


TWO-GUN SUE 


world that you have always wanted.” The wist- 
fulness in her tone was lost upon the younger girl. 

‘ ‘Every thing !” she cried ecstatically. “Oh, 
Sue, pinch me ! I want to be sure I am awake ! 
Now we can go to London and Harold can buy a 
partnership and maybe sometime he ’ll have a title 
— I mean, be elevated to the peerage! Sue, 
how would you like to have a sister who was a 
lady?” 

“ 1 Harold’?” Susanna held her at arm’s length 
and her own heart seemed to stop for a moment, 
then beat like a wild thing struggling for freedom. 

“Yes, Mrs. Bentley ’s son. Don ’t you remember 
him?” Sylvia laughed a trifle self-consciously. 
“He was transferred from the Galveston branch 
to the main London office, you know, and he ’s just 
home on a visit. He — he wants me to go back 
with him and now — oh, Sue, it’s too good to be 
true!” 

“But, Sylvia, — what of Mr. Chanler?” Sue’s 
eyes were stern, but her voice trembled a bit as 
she asked the question. 

i 1 Mr. Chanler ? I — I don ’t understand . ’ ’ 

“You don’t understand! Have you forgotten 
what you told me that night before I went away? 
Do you know where I went? It was to New York, 
to bring back the man who had hurt you so that 
he might make reparation. ’ ’ 


SUSANNA GETS HER MAN 315 

Sylvia’s face went white as she listened. Then 
Garry stepped forward out of the shadows. 

4 4 Miss Sylvia, ’ 9 he said gravely. 4 4 Will you tell 
your sister what I have done ! 9 9 

4 4 Oh, good gracious ! 9 9 Sylvia gasped. 4 4 1 didn 9 t 

— I never ! Sue, how could you ! I only meant 

that I — I ! Oh, I was angry because I had 

made a little fool of myself and I don’t know what 
I said, but whatever it was, Susanna ought to have 
known better than to pay any attention! I’m 
ashamed to death ! — And I ’m engaged, too ! What 
will Harold say ! ’ ’ 

She broke down sobbing and Garry squared his 
shoulders, glancing at Susanna, who stood as 
though turned to stone. 

4 4 Then you will permit me to congratulate you 
and at the same time exonerate me from the 
charge of having offended you 1 9 9 He spoke laugh- 
ingly, but there was a buoyant thrill in his tones. 

Sylvia looked at him with tears in her eyes. 

4 4 Of course! I was a bold, forward little cat, 
and you were splendid, just like a big brother! 
Oh, what have I done ! ’ ’ 

Susanna bent swiftly and kissed her once more. 

4 4 The greatest thing in the world for me, my 
dear ! ’ ’ she whispered softly and turned to Garry. 

44 0-oh, well!” Sylvia observed after a pause. 


316 


TWO-GUN SUE 


“I — I’m glad! I said lie was like a splendid, big 
brother, but I thought you went after him for 
me !” 

4 1 But you don ’t want me, little sister ! ’ ’ Garry ’s 
hand was holding Susanna’s very tightly. “You 
have Harold, you know, and Susanna ?” 

Susanna smiled into his eyes. 

“I’ve got my man!” she said. 


THE END 






























































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